Finance News by Mazars Romania May 2024

Thu | 30.05.2024

Accounting/audit/tax

Mazars Central and Eastern European tax guide 2024

Mazars released its 12th annual Central and Eastern European (CEE) Tax Guide, featuring snapshots and comparisons of tax systems across 25 CEE countries for 2024.

This comprehensive tax guide, expanding its coverage from 15 countries in 2013 to 25 in 2024, helps businesses compare tax environments across a wide range of jurisdictions. It delves into a broad range of tax issues, focusing on corporate income tax, transfer pricing, employment, and sales taxes.

The guide’s structure allows for easy access to information. The first section presents the tax systems of the CEE region country-by-country, based on data from relevant Mazars offices. The end features summary tables for side-by-side comparisons of the relevant tax environments.

Key findings:

The global minimum tax introduces a new standard for multinational taxation.
Digitalisation in tax systems is enhancing transparency and compliance globally.
Significant disparities in tax rates and competitiveness indicators across the CEE region.

Read more info HERE.

Access the interactive online platform HERE.

NAFA has published the RO e-Transport guide: fines of up to RON 100,000 for non-compliance with the provisions

By implementing the RO e-Transport system, NAFA's main objective is to reduce the VAT gap through real-time monitoring of goods movements on national roads. Thus, identifying and investigating potential cases of irregularities or tax fraud.

Unlike reporting in the RO e-Invoice system, which is based on a European reporting standard, the RO e-Transport system is locally developed. A key element of RO e-Transport is the generation of unique transport codes (UIT) for each shipment. This functionality enables tracking of each shipment individually, ensuring efficient and precise monitoring of commercial activities related to the road transportation of goods.

“The implementation of the system began on 1 July 2022, initially targeting freight shipments considered to be of high fiscal risk. From 5 December 2023, the scope of the system has been extended to include all categories of goods for international road transport. As there have been several discussions between business leaders and tax authorities on clarifying reporting under the system, on 26 April, NAFA and the Ministry of Finance published the Guide on the use of the national monitoring system for road transport of goods, RO e-Transport.”, mentioned Mihaela Hampu, Senior Tax Manager, Mazars in Romania.

Read more info HERE.

M&A deals in 2024: adapting to an everchanging tax landscape and establishing strategies for successful M&A deals

Within an ever-changing landscape, it has been expected that buyers exert caution following numerous global disruptions, from geopolitical conflicts, inflation, and high-interest rates, to labour shortages and changes in consumer behaviour, multiple and broad-ranging tax reforms, the push towards increased tax and financial transparency as well as the challenges posed by the sustainability agenda. However, according to Mazars’ latest report, Investing in CEE: Inbound M&A report 2023/2024, dealmaking in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) held up relatively well, with the number of transactions reaching 1,097.

Mazars’ experts have analysed several tax issues that an investor or a financial company needs to consider when planning a transaction.

Main conclusions of the analysis are:

The due diligence analysis is one of the most important steps in a transaction.
Romania failed to keep its budget deficit in check, putting pressure on tax collection and lawmakers to reform tax legislation and administration alike.
The need to increase digitalisation at the level of the Romanian tax authorities became key.
Even so, conventional tax risks such as lack of supporting documentation, transfer pricing, or requalification in the payroll area remain the key drivers for most tax audits.

Read more info HERE.

Transfer pricing in the context of tax inspections: updates and recommendations

In the context of increased interest from the Romanian tax authorities in intra-group transactions, transfer pricing tax inspections have become increasingly common.

According to data published by NAFA, in 2023, there were 15,610 inspections conducted on legal entities, resulting in additional amounts totaling RON 2.53 billion being established. Additionally, for the purpose of identifying and quantifying potential tax risks, 13,117 unannounced on-site inspections were carried out in 2023.

Considering the emphasis placed by NAFA on verifying intra-group transactions and the fiscal risk category in which a taxpayer falls, it is essential for companies to have supporting documents regarding transactions conducted with affiliates. Moreover, they need to identify and monitor potential risks to avoid adjustments that could arise from a transfer pricing tax inspection.

Mazars’ tax experts prepared an article regarding this topic, that contains the latest updates, as well as recommendations.

Read more info HERE.

Mazars in Romania launches a dedicated Turkish Desk and appoints Mert Kaftanoglu as its leader

Mazars announces the launch of a dedicated Turkish Desk within the Romanian office, as well as the appointment of Mert Kaftanoglu as Business Development Executive and Leader of the Turkish Desk.

The Turkish desk will offer Mazars' full suite of services to Turkish businesses, including tax, audit, outsourcing, financial advisory, and consulting services.

By establishing a dedicated team with cultural fluency and industry expertise, Mazars is positioned to provide exceptional service and support to Romanian firms wishing to do business in Türkiye, Turkish companies setting up in Romania, and Turkish people who moved to Romania and need guidance in managing their assets.

Mert Kaftanoglu boasts an experience of more than 20 years across various industries, having developed a diverse skill set encompassing management and operations functions. Mert's professional journey includes notable management roles in Fintech, IT, and Construction, in which he played a pivotal role in shaping strategy, driving growth, and managing relationships with stakeholders.

Read more info HERE.