Sergei Temrin
He also said that minor adjustments to the tax document are possible. “In the initial version of the draft, trade was not included in the list of economic activities whose representatives could benefit from the zero tax rate on income, which had been in force for two years for the SME sector,” Radu Marian said. – The government has organized discussions on this issue. I think that during the second reading of the draft law, we will consider this possibility also for trade companies with a turnover of up to 50 million lei per year. This is the most important possible change. We are also studying the issue of taxing the salaries of cab drivers, for whom there is a special regime now. It was proposed to transfer them to the standard taxation. We are analyzing this initiative as well.
The main tax amendments and comments to them have already been submitted to Logos Press. Experts agree that the absence of major changes this year, including the package approved in the summer by the previous parliament, as well as amendments of editorial nature give business a little respite and stability. In addition, they generally improve the legislation, although they are implemented without serious public discussions of the professional and business community. In this sense, business still reminds of the legislative calendar and its proposal to plan and implement significant tax changes every three years.
The key changes in the proposed draft relate to raising the threshold for registration as a VAT payer and retaining the zero income tax rate on undistributed profits in 2026. As well as preserving the current regime of excise taxes on car imports and postponing the implementation of VAT until after Moldova’s accession to the European Union.
In this regard, the provisions of the legislation on “supply of cars and other motor vehicles classified under commodity items 8703 on the basis of financial leasing contracts concluded before January 1, 2026” will be abolished. As well as provisions on the refund of the amount of excise taxes for balances sold after January 1, 2026.
In addition, it is proposed to revise certain concepts of the Tax Code. Namely, to set out in a new wording paragraph 38) of Article 5 of the Tax Code concerning the concept of “promotional campaign”.
At present, the definition prescribes that “A promotional campaign is a way of promoting sales by organizing contests, games, lotteries publicly announced and held within a limited period with the awarding of gifts, prizes, winnings”.
As stated in the explanatory note to the draft law, the new wording of the concept of “advertising campaign” is proposed due to the inconsistency of the current wording with the programs developed by the business community to stimulate non-cash sales and payments. At the same time, according to the authors of the draft, promotional campaigns should not be time-limited, but should be actions to promote goods/services resulting from commercial practices carried out by taxpayers.
“The way of promoting sales by providing bonuses, cashback, bonuses and other incentive instruments has become widespread in recent years in Moldova. The STS drew attention to these payments due to the lack of regulatory provisions in the current legislation,” says Serghei Temrin, director of the audit company Accept. – The proposed amendments bring clarity to the application of the legislation in such cases. For example, the term “advertising campaign” is used in terms of income tax in Article 20 of the Tax Code, which provides for winnings in advertising campaigns as a source of income not subject to tax. At the same time, the value of each winnings shall not exceed the amount of personal exemption set forth in Article 33 of the Tax Code”.
With regard to VAT, Article 97 of the TC will be supplemented with the provision that “the value of taxable supply shall be reduced by the amount of price reductions granted to customers in the form of discounts, rebates, bonuses, value points (for loyalty) or other forms of discounts”. According to the explanatory note to the draft, the purpose of this clarification is to establish a unified approach and avoid double and ambiguous interpretations in relation to VAT in the event of the granting of various incentives to stimulate sales.
In addition, according to the draft, Article 24 of the Tax Code is supplemented, according to which “it is allowed to deduct expenses paid by the taxpayer during the tax period in the form of entrance and membership fees of patronages, foundations and other associations representing entrepreneurial activities. The limit of the deduction is 0.15% of the payroll or the amount of the contributions up to a maximum of two average monthly salaries for the economy, projected and approved by the government for the year in which they were paid”.
