The priority tasks of the State Tax Service of Moldova are the implementation of legislation on transfer prices and the development of a Strategy for compliance with legislation by large taxpayers.
This was stated by the new Minister of Finance, former head of the State Tax Service Petru Rotaru, setting new tasks for the employees of the State Tax Service. Petru Rotaru was Director of the State Tax Service from March 30 to September 28, 2023. Summing up his mandate at a meeting with the State Tax Service team, he expressed gratitude to them for their professionalism, dedication and devotion in their activities. “The tax authority demonstrates that it has a team of professional, competent, talented people, ready to face any challenges, the main goal of which is to ensure the development of the state of the Republic of Moldova and ensure the well-being of its citizens,” said Petru Rotaru. In this context, the former director of the State Tax Service reviewed the main achievements of the tax authority in 2023. These included: improving the infrastructure of the e-Factura, “Taxpayer Current Account” and “Electronic Declaration” systems, including through their migration to MCloud; expanding the scope of application of the Electronic Sales Monitoring Information System; transition of former owners of entrepreneurial patents in the field of trade to a simplified taxation regime - independent activity; simplification of the tax registration procedure for individuals engaged in independent activities; simplification of the procedure for declaring tax obligations; doubling the space on the server that supports the database of the automated information system e-Factura; approval of the Regulations on VAT refunds to agricultural producers; amendments to the Regulations on the refund of value added tax. As for revenues to the National Public Budget, administered by the State Tax Service, in January-August 2023 they amounted to 41.1 billion lei, an increase of 5.8 billion lei (+16.4%) compared to the same period of the previous year. Petru Rotaru also noted that, to the detriment of control activities, special emphasis is placed on encouraging voluntary compliance with tax legislation. Thus, in the first half of 2023, actions were intensified for taxpayers’ voluntary compliance with tax legislation, including by increasing the number of tax visits by approximately 80%. At the same time, the number of tax audits conducted has decreased significantly (approx. by 57%) compared to the planned ones. Herewith, against the background of a decrease in the number of planned tax audits, the share of collected amounts from the total amount of tax liabilities calculated as part of the audits carried out increased by 55.7 million lei (+52%) compared to the same period in 2022 which indicates the effectiveness of the control measures carried out, including their planning, in terms of the fiscal administration costs incurred by the institution in connection with this. Another important aspect was that in August a cooperation agreement was signed between the State Tax Service and the Customs Service, the purpose of which is to prevent tax evasion, corruption crimes, tax and customs violations, as well as increase the efficiency of business environment services by automating them, improving the business environment by ensuring fair competition and reducing control, optimizing law enforcement processes in the tax and customs areas, ensuring the exchange of experience by providing mutual methodological and practical support, organizing joint meetings, seminars and trainings. A third Cooperation Agreement was also signed between the Swedish Tax Agency and the State Tax Service for 2023-2026, within the framework of which a mission of experts is currently being carried out in all 3 components of the project: human resource management, international information exchange, services to taxpayers. Speaking about medium- and long-term priorities, Petru Rotaru noted that the State Tax Service is in the process of harmonizing tax legislation, including with the provisions of EU legislation. He also drew attention to the following goals that the tax team will have to achieve: implementation of transfer pricing legislation; development of a Compliance Strategy for Large Taxpayers; revision of the system of indicators for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of fiscal control; review of tax non-compliance risks; expansion of the categories of taxpayers required to connect to the automated information system “Electronic Sales Monitoring” (AIS “MEV”); expanding the use of pre-filled declarations, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.// 29.09.2023 — InfoMarket
