Last year, individuals made more than 7.5 billion euros from financial investments (shares, bonds, dividends, deposits and foreign exchange transactions), up 65% on 2006.
Profits from financial investments made exclusively by individuals went up 65% last year, from 4.6 billion euros in 2006 to 7.5 billion euros in 2007, according to a ZF analysis, based on budgetary revenues derived from taxes on such investments. In comparison, the total deposits of the population in banks amounted to 18.4 billion euros at the end of last year, whilst the total capitalisation of the Bucharest Stock Exchange stood at 24 billion euros yesterday. For instance, the 7.5 billion-euro profit derived by individuals from financial investments last year exceeds the market value of the biggest Romanian company Petrom, which stood at 5.7 billion euros yesterday.
ZF's analysis took into account four tax categories for individuals: incomes from sales of securities (shares and bonds), incomes from dividends, incomes from interests and incomes from forward transactions in foreign exchange. While individuals' profits from financial investments advanced by 65% last year, the state's revenues from the taxes levied on such investments went up by around the same amount (62%) from 400 million euros to 648 million euros.
Individuals made most money from the sale of shares, in the case of both listed and unlisted companies. Whereas the estimated gains of individuals from the sale of shares stood at 2.264 billion euros in 2006, last year they reached 4.23 billion euros (87% higher), while budgetary revenues from taxes on such transactions increased four times.
There are some questions concerning these estimates, caused by the significant changes in fiscal legislation and the taxation system applied to gains from the sale of securities. Experts had expected the profit of individuals from the sale of shares to surge, however, they believed that the majority of profits were the result of transactions with unlisted companies.
"I expect (tax) revenues from the trading of securities to go up for two reasons: 2 tax quotas were applied in 2006, depending on how long those securities had been held (i.e. by the seller), while in 2007 only the 16% tax was levied," says Alex Massaci, manager at audit and tax consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"My opinion is that the highest gains from sale of shares were made from unlisted companies, both in 2006 and in 2007," comments Gabriel Biris, tax lawyer of Biris Goian law firm.
ZF's calculations assumed that 70% of the revenues from the tax on profit made from the sale of shares fell in the 1% category (applied to the sale of shares held for more than a year) and 30% came from the 16% tax category (for shares held less than one year).
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
