Fiscal Procedure Code - from January 2007

 - administration of taxes (i.e., activities related to fiscal registration; declaration, assessment, verification and collection of taxes, solving of appeals against fiscal minutes) provided by the Fiscal Code;
 - administration of customs duties;
 - contributions, fines and other revenues of the general consolidated budget.
 
 The FPC constitutes the common law for administration of taxes and if silent on certain matters, provisions of the Civil Procedure Code are to be applied.
 
 General principles for administration of taxes
 Consistent application – states the obligation of the fiscal authorities to apply in a consistent manner the provisions of fiscal legislation with a view to correctly assess taxes due by taxpayers.
 
 Right to be consulted – according to this principle enforced by the FPC, prior to making a decision, the fiscal authorities are obliged to allow the taxpayer to express the position in respect to the deeds and circumstances relevant for decision-making. The FPC stipulates several exceptions from this general principle.
 
 Confidentiality – fiscal authorities are obliged to ensure the confidentiality of information pertaining to taxes and taxpayers.
 
 Representation
 Taxpayers may appoint representatives in their relations with the fiscal authority. Representatives of taxpayers without Romanian fiscal residence should be Romanian fiscal residents.
 
 General procedure provisions
 
 Competence of fiscal authorities
 The fiscal authorities are empowered to administer fiscal claims, perform fiscal audits and issue application norms for the fiscal legislation. Customs authorities are empowered to manage customs related duties.
 
 The competent fiscal authority for administration of taxes is the fiscal authority of the district where the taxpayer or the income payer has fiscal residence. In case of taxpayers performing activities through a permanent Romanian establishment, the competent fiscal authority is determined based on the place where the turnover of the permanent establishment is obtained.
 
 Conflict of competence
 A conflict of competence occurs when two or more fiscal authorities declare their fiscal competence or non-competence. The conflict will be solved by the common superior authority or by mutual agreement between the superior authorities of the parties engaged in the conflict.
 
 Correction of material errors
 The fiscal authority may proceed to correction of material errors identified in the fiscal administrative acts on its own initiative or further to an application submitted by the taxpayers.
 
 Material errors are errors or omissions in respect to the name, capacity of parties of the fiscal legal relationship, computation errors or other errors similar to these, and do not refer to the substance of the fiscal act.
 
 The corrected act will be notified to taxpayers.
 
 Obligation to provide information
 Taxpayers or their appointed representatives are obliged to provide the fiscal authorities with the requested information, necessary for the determination of the actual facts regarding the fiscal position, in writing. The fiscal authorities may request information from other persons only when the facts scrutinised have not been clarified by taxpayers, such information being considered only if confirmed by other evidence.
 
 Right not to provide information/evidence
 The spouse and relatives of taxpayers may refuse to provide information and written documents and performing of expertise, such persons being informed about such rights. Other persons such as priests, lawyers, notary public, fiscal consultants, judicial executors, auditors, certified accountants, physicians and psychiatrists may refuse to provide information gathered during professional practice, except for information concerning compliance with their own fiscal liabilities.
 
 Charge of proof
 Taxpayers are held responsible to prove the facts and deeds supporting their declarations and appeals to the fiscal authorities, whereas the latter have the obligation to motivate the amount payable by taxpayers.
 
 
 Fiscal sanctions
 Failure to submit tax returns and failure to pay taxes in due time entails penalties as follows:
 
 Failure to file tax returns
 Non-filing of tax returns by the respective deadline may attract the following fines:
 - RON 50 to RON 1,500 for individuals and RON 10 to RON 100 for the income tax return of individuals; and
 - RON 500 to RON 10,000 for legal entities.
 
 Taxpayers remain liable for the payment of the fines for late filing of returns regardless of the payment of the tax due.
 
 Interest and penalties on delays in payment of tax due
 Failure to pay taxes at the prescribed dates is penalised with late payment penalty, which is currently 0.1% per day of delay.
 
 Additionally, for failure to withhold or failure to pay taxes withheld at source (taxes on salary-type income, dividend income and non-residents’ income), a fine ranging between RON 500 and RON 10,000 may be applied, depending on the amount of fiscal obligations.