The total revenues collected by Romania’s tax agency ANAF to the state budget increased by over EUR 3 billion (or 8%) last year compared to 2014, reaching EUR 43.4 billion.

The state’s tax revenues were also 4% higher than the planned level for 2015.

The VAT revenues rose by 12% (some EUR 1.4 billion) to EUR 12.7 billion, despite the VAT rate cut for food from 24% to 9% starting June 1, 2015, according to ANAF.

The revenues from the individual income tax amount to EUR 5.7 billion in 2015, up 12% compared to 2014, and the revenues from the corporate profit tax also went up by 13%, to over EUR 3 billion. The collection of excise duties, including the vice tax, rose by 8% year-on-year to EUR 5.7 billion.

The higher tax revenues were a direct result of ANAF’s reform and “zero tolerance to tax evasion” policy, according to the agency’s president Gelu Stefan Diaconu.

“In maximum two years, Romania will have a tax gap below the EU average,” Diaconu said in a press release.

The tax gap is the amount of tax liability faced by taxpayers that is not paid on time.

editor@romania-insider.com