No changes for profit tax, after all

The Finance Ministry has decided, only two months since the beginning of the year, to drop plans to enforce the advance profit tax payment system for companies, confusing businesses and upsetting "calculations" made by the companies' accountants at the end of last year.

The companies should have had to shift to the advance profit tax payment system, which had been used only by banks in the previous years according to the Fiscal Code in force.

"No advance profit tax will be paid in 2010. We discussed it with the Finance minister and we will keep the provision about not paying advance profit tax for 2010, as well, as part of the changes we will make to the Fiscal Code, considering the economic context and in order to help the business sector," Prime Minister Emil Boc said yesterday.

According to ZF information, there are companies which had higher revenues at the end of the year and had trouble figuring out together with their accountants when to actually record them.

Had the advance profit tax payment system been enforced, companies would have had to file returns and make advance payments every quarter as part of the yearly profit tax in sum of 25% of the tax due for 2009 - when profits were cut by the economic crisis adjusted with the inflationary index of December.