Representatives of the local hospitality industry recently had a meeting with finance minister Eugen Teodorovici to talk about ways to regulate and tax the tips in hotels and restaurants.

The local hotel managers consider that a 10% income tax on tips would be fair. They also want a taxation system that is easy to implement.

“We are talking about regulating tips like in all European countries, mainly for the customers. Clients can’t be obliged to pay a tip, but tips can improve the quality of service,” Calin Ile, the president of the Romanian Hotel Industry Federation (FIHR) told local Profit.ro.

He said that there are many foreign tourists who want to pay tips by credit card as well as local companies that would pay tips for protocol dinners, but they can’t officially do this because lack of regulation. Regulating tips would increase the number of tip paying customers, which would bring benefits for all parties.

Finance minister Eugen Teodorovici said he was open to any discussions on this theme.

Three years ago, during his previous mandate as finance minister, Eugen Teodorovici imposed a tip taxation system, but the tax was later dropped because it was difficult to implement.

editor@romania-insider.com