Uncollected VAT represented a EUR 6.13 billion loss for Romania's 2016 budget, according to the European Commission’s data.

The VAT gap in Romania, which is calculated as the difference between the VAT liability and the amount of VAT actually collected, amounted to 35.9% of the total expected VAT revenues, the highest level in the European Union.

Moreover, Romania was one of only six EU countries that recorded higher VAT gaps in 2016 compared to 2015. By comparison, Bulgaria recorded the highest decrease in its VAT gap, from 20.67% in 2015 to 13.56% in 2016. In the other CEE countries, the VAT gap was 13.33 in Hungary, 14.19% in the Czech Republic, 20.80% in Poland and 25.68% in Slovakia.

“Our country should follow other states´ best practices in terms of the electronic interaction with the taxpayer. If ANAF opted to implement modern VAT collection methods, this would create the premises of a normal framework and of the evolution of the VAT collection process, not only on short term, but also on the medium and long run, which is what both ANAF and honest taxpayers want”, said Daniel Anghel, Partner, Leader of the Tax and Legal Department, PwC Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com

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