The income tax exemption that applies to software programmers will be extended from next year to IT specialists without a university degree, as well as to other business models, communications minister Augustin Jianu said yesterday.

The tax exemption currently applies only to companies creating computer programs.

Jianu explained that the whole outsourcing industry in Romania represents the largest bulk of the IT sector. Despite this, the outsourcing sector doesn’t benefit from this tax exemption under the current law.

He also said that the ministry is in the final stages of drafting a bill that would correct this problem and would allow the outsourcing companies to benefit from this tax exemption. The bill could come out in August, but it will enter into force next year.

The employers that create software programs currently benefit from the tax exemption for the programmers’ salaries if they recorded a turnover of at least USD 10,000 from selling software in the previous year. The Government wants to remove this threshold.

editor@romania-insider.com