Moldova is developing a legal framework to promote e-commerce and non-cash payments.
The Ministry of Economy is preparing a package of amendments and additions to some normative acts that will be focused on the promotion of e-commerce and cashless payments. The project provides for clarification of legislation on taxation of online stores of various categories; creation of fiscal conditions to promote non-cash payments for patent holders and subjects of independent entrepreneurship; facilitation of interaction between business and tax authorities (online filing of declarations, electronic applications, etc.). According to the draft, if at least 25% of payments are made in non-cash form, the limits of income from sales for patent holders may be increased from 300 to 600 thousand lei and from 0.6 million to 1.2 million lei for subjects of independent activity. It is also proposed to limit the amount of cash payments of businesses in favor of individuals. Thus, in relations with individuals they will be able to make cash payments of up to 10 thousand lei per transaction, but not more than 100 thousand lei per year. There will be excluded the possibility of giving additional discounts when paying in cash when selling goods and services. Providers of postal services will be forbidden to accept cash payments from customers. The legislation will more specifically define the concept of "electronic commerce" in order to avoid ambiguous interpretation of this type of activity, as well as provide a detailed description of the various subjects of electronic commerce. It is planned to establish a differentiated procedure for notification of the activities of trading units that engage in retail trade via the Internet, as well as to apply lower local fees for micro and small businesses. According to the draft, economic entities that engage in online commerce without having a commercial space will be required to identify special sites for the exchange of goods. This is necessary to comply with consumer protection regulations. Failure to comply with this requirement will be subject to fines: for individuals - from 50 to 100 conventional units, for legal entities - from 200 to 400 conventional units. The fines will be fixed by the Agency for Consumer Rights Protection and Market Surveillance. It is worth mentioning that in total the draft law envisages the amendment of more than 20 acts. The impact regulation analysis of this project has already been considered by the working group on business regulation. // 08.06.2022 - InfoMarket
