Ion Chicu
The first option calls for the introduction of a 4% tax on banks’ turnover, similar to the practice currently in place in Romania. According to the lawmaker, this tax could be calculated based on banks’ revenues, including income from foreign exchange gains, lending, interest, and other sources.
The second option involves maintaining the current 12% corporate income tax rate but increasing the tax on dividends paid by banks to their shareholders. Kiku proposes setting the dividend tax rate at 24% or even 36%.
“We don’t want to tax you heavily—let’s keep it at 12%. But if you’re taking money out, please pay your taxes here,” the former prime minister said on the Ziua podcast.
According to Kiku, both options could be considered as alternatives when formulating tax policy. He believes that this approach would encourage banks to reinvest their profits in the Republic of Moldova, and if those profits are distributed to shareholders, the state would be able to collect additional tax revenue.
“Either 4%, as in Romania, on income derived—so to speak—from turnover, or a higher tax rate at the moment when bankers and strategic investors wish to withdraw their profits,” Kiku said.
The lawmaker stated that he would propose both options for taxing the banking sector in Parliament as an amendment to the draft law on tax policy, which the government will submit to the legislature.
As a reminder, on August 6, Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan confirmed that the new budget and tax policy framework includes raising the corporate income tax rate for banks from the base rate of 12% to 18%. The prime minister emphasized that this measure, which increases the rate by 50%, will be temporary and apply only within the framework of the 2027 fiscal and tax policy.
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