Procedure for registration for VAT purposes of taxable persons (Order no. 1984/2011, published in the Official Gazette no. 361/24 May 2011)

The Order establishes the criteria conditioning the registration for VAT purposes.

Taxable persons which are set-up according to Company Law no. 31/1990, republished, with subsequent changes, and which are subject to registration at the Trade Registry and which request the registration for VAT purposes according to article 153 (1) a) and c) of the Fiscal Code are liable to submit at the competent tax authorities an appendix to the declaration of specifications. The template of such appendix is provided by the Order.

Thus, the criteria conditioning the registration for VAT purposes of the above-mentioned taxable persons are:

a) The respective taxable persons are not in the situation of not performing economic activities at their social headquarters or at their secondary offices. In order to prove this situation, the appendix to the declaration of specifications shall be accompanied by an ascertaining note issued by the Trade Registry.

b) None of the taxable person’s administrators and/or associates, nor the taxable person itself appear in the fiscal record as having performed a.o. any offences;

c) Actual check of the existence of the space designated as social headquarters/fiscal domicile and, as the case may be, of the declared secondary offices that correspond to the object of activity that the taxable person intends to perform/ is performing;

d) Other evaluation criteria specifically provided in appendix 2 of the Order, further to which the competent tax authorities will establish a certain score.

In order to solve the registration request, the competent tax authorities shall gradually check the fulfillment of the criteria mentioned at points a) – c) above. Non-fulfillment of one of the respective criteria will lead to the refusal of the registration request.

In the event that the taxable person fulfils the criteria mentioned at points a) – c) above, but the score obtained by the taxpayer based on the criteria laid down in appendix 2 of the Order is lower than 45 points, the respective taxable person shall not be registered for VAT purposes.

The issuance of the approval/rejection decision in respect of the registration for VAT purposes shall be performed by the competent tax authorities within 15 working days from the date of submission of the declaration of specifications.

By Venkatesh Srinivasan, Partner – Head of Tax and Legal, Ernst & Young Romania

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