The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) organised a debate " TAX vs. Citizen " on 22 February at the Parliament, starting from the numerous inequalities between taxpayers and the state in their relationship with the tax authorities. The "TAX versus Citizen" debate brought together taxpayers, tax experts, ANAF representatives and policy makers to discuss the challenges faced by each side and to propose concrete solutions to improve the relationship between ANAF and the Romanian citizen.
Speakers included former Finance Ministers Ioana Petrescu and Eugen Teodorovici, former ANAF President Lucian Ovidiu Heiuș, ANAF representatives. Also present at the conference were Member of Parliament Steluța Cătăniciu, President of the Commission for Abuses, one of the initiators of a bill currently in parliamentary procedure that aimed precisely to put the sign of equality between the state and the citizen, in the relationship with ANAF as well as Senator Daniel Zamfir, president of the Economic Commission, tax advisors, business advisors, lawyers, academics, representatives of the business environment and CECCAR, accountants, economists, NGOs, employers, the National Union of Romanian Employers and the representative of the largest Facebook group on E-invoice that brings together over 62. 000 professionals in the field.
The debate was moderated by Professor Victor Alistar. One conclusion drawn from the dialogue of those present was that equality between the state and the citizen is enshrined in the Constitution and, although the principles are often transposed into law, they are not applied in practice.
TAX ABERRATIONS IN THE LIBERAL PROFESSIONS
The discussions started from concrete cases where there are obvious discrepancies in the rights of citizens in relation to the tax authorities even in the legislation in force, as Victor Alistar pointed out. One example is the interest that taxpayers have to pay, but the state pays interest to taxpayers ONLY on request, which is not presumed by law. Another aspect, raised by Alistar, was the different taxation regime for income from liberal professions depending on the form of legal organisation. The lawyer points out that if you work in a law firm you pay more to the state than if you do the same activity in a company with this profile. Dentists and psychologists are in the same situation. Alistar says it's not normal to have different taxes for the same activity.ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF THE DEMOCRATIC STATE BEING VIOLATED?
Lawyer Elena Radu explained that the fact that the data from the e-Invoice must be handed over by law to the Romanian Intelligence Service violates the principles of a democratic state and the rule of law. "In my opinion, these ordinances, the e-Invoice in this form and its mandatory nature must be repealed. Regarding these Government Emergency Ordinances, 109 and 116/2020 given the presence in the Chamber of Deputies must reject these emergency ordinances. And now we have discussions about the existence of the Romanian rule of law and the existence of democracy in Romania, whether it still exists or not. Many citizens believe that we currently have a superficial democracy, and for this very reason I believe that the necessary measures must be taken to stop any deviation from Romania's existence as a democratic and social state based on the rule of law", said the lawyer. According to ANAF representatives, who stressed that tax policy is not their responsibility, in order to improve cooperation with citizens, a complete transition to the digital area would be needed, along with educating the population in the use of modern technologies, along with tax education.HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATIONS COULD BE EXEMPT FROM E-INVOICE
One owners' association president, Virginia Popa, present at the debate raised a pertinent issue and pointed out that e-Invoice should not be imposed on owners' associations. "The owners' association does not issue invoices and cannot evade taxes. What's the point of imposing the E-invoice on us?" said Popa. Mihaela Drăgulin, Director General, General Directorate for Taxpayers Assistance, also present at the debate, was receptive to the issue raised by the owners' association president and said she would present this case to the decision-makers: "I know that there are requests sent by owners' associations to the Ministry of Finance and we also have requests in this regard at ANAF. I can tell you that now you are not really exempt because there are situations where other invoices are issued by the owners' associations, there are rented places and so on. But the issues from you in particular were also passed on by us to our colleagues at the Ministry, and for the cost I want to tell you that, as far as I know, the associations were already submitting the 112 statements in terms of the digital certificate. You already have a digital certificate. From the perspective of the obligation is another discussion, but I told you, there and we have approached the Ministry of Finance, it remains to be seen how it is established, but we know your problem." Based on the conclusions of the debate, FACIAS will formulate proposals to be submitted to the authorities.
