This was one of the conclusions of the conference organized by Ziarul Financiar “Upsides and Downsides of Fiscal Policy – What Should Be Done For Taxation To No Longer Be A Burden to Companies?” on Tuesday.
The ZF conference was attended by Dan Lazar, state secretary with the Finance Ministry, Doru Dudas, general manager of the Fiscal Tax Legislation Department of the Finance Ministry, Adrian Rus, senior manager Tax Advisory Ernst & Young, Florin Gherghel head of Tax Department, Noerr Finance & Tax and Catalin Ungureanu, Inox Style manager.
The representative of the business sector, Catalin Ungureanu, brought up the excessive red tape in the system, explaining how it took him approximately six months to move the registered office of his company in Bucharest to Ilfov (the county that surrounds Bucharest).
“I’ve got at least two truckloads of documentation prepared so far. Bureaucracy is excessive. I bet I would be able to move the registered office of the company that had no debts in three months. It took about six. I was about to chain myself to the Treasury office of sector 5.”
Dan Lazar, the official in charge with fiscal legislation reassured that the modifications to be made soon would include simplification of fiscal regulations, while stability of taxes would be preserved.
The Finance Ministry cannot collect taxes from everyone that should pay them or for every income, so that the tax burden falls on those who are “in plain sight”, said Doru Dudas from the Fiscal Tax Legislation Department of the Finance Ministry.
Taxation can be a burden via taxation quotas, fiscal pressure or may have to do with payment or management problems.
“We will be able to talk about tax cuts only when the fiscal burden is fairly split among all taxpayers. 2011 was a year of tax quota stability, of consolidation, of predictability hence the taxpayers should no longer feel taxation is a burden in terms of quotas. The management problems can lead us to this perception. The steps we have to take pertain to management. Legislation is ok, but there are problems in the relation of the taxpayer with the tax authorities,” Dudas said.
The representatives of advisory firms discussed the problems that may arise between companies and tax authorities.
Florin Gherghel, head of tax department, Noerr Finance & Tax said the government and tax inspectors should treat companies like partners and with respect.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)