Romania’s National Tax Agency (ANAF) may drop the criminal charges for damages of up to RON 50,000 (EUR 11,000) from tax evasion if the accused pays the amount and penalties before the first court hearing, according to Finance Minister Anca Dragu.

The taxpayers will be able to benefit from this measure only once in five years. The measure will help streamline the fight with tax evasion.

According to the minister, the Government discussed yesterday this proposal for amending the law on combating evasion.

Over 50% of the tax evasion cases in Romania are for very small amounts and the cumulated damages in these cases represent about 1% of the total damages in all tax evasion cases. Thus, the tax agency is wasting resources with these cases, as the state’s costs for recovering these amounts are higher than the recovered amounts, according to the minister.

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