Entrepreneurs rushing to close their companies

"This year, start-ups will not pay minimum profit tax. Meanwhile, companies whose activity was suspended in 2008 and that wish to resume this in 2009 will receive differential treatment and be exempted from paying a fixed quota of profit tax," said Minister of Finance Gheorghe Pogea yesterday.

Two days before the modifications to the Fiscal Code go into effect, and as employers associations request a new round of negotiations on the ordinance regarding the introduction of the lump-sum tax as of 1 May, Pogea assured that the lump-sum tax will not generate bankruptcies and that the payment regime of the profit tax remains the same.

However, the minister's declarations do not help entrepreneurs, who have been storming the branches of the National Trade Register Office (ONRC) for the past two weeks, since the ordinance with modifications to the Code was published in the Official Gazette. Entrepreneurs are requesting the suspension or voluntary cessation of their companies established in previous years and for which they do not wish to pay the "Pogea tax."

The 48 ONRC branches in Bucharest could barely handle the avalanche of suspensions, dissolutions, and cessation files which were waiting to be submitted to the authorities. In fact, the lump-sum tax has led to fear among small and medium-sized enterprises, according to statistics forwarded to the press yesterday by ONRC officials. The data made public indicated that the number of suspension applications filed since the beginning of this month is almost 3.5 times higher year-on-year. The number of applications for dissolution and that for voluntary company cessation have also skyrocketed.

The government's decision to introduce the lump-sum tax means that companies with revenues of up to RON 52,000 will be obliged to pay a tax of some €500, while enterprises with revenues exceeding RON 129 million will pay a tax worth some €10,000.

Business Standard