Newsletter 9/2017 - VAT split payment

Persons required to apply the VAT split payment system

Taxable persons registered for VAT purposes in Romania (including non-resident companies) are required to open and use at least one dedicated VAT account for the receipt and payment of the VAT, different from the current commercial account.

How it works

Any taxable person will perform the payments to its suppliers, as follows:

• Will transfer the amount of VAT mentioned in the invoice from its own VAT account into the supplier's VAT account;
• Will transfer the amount of the taxable base mentioned in the invoice from its own current account into the supplier’s current account.

Similarly, the taxable person will collect the payments from its clients in the VAT account and current account.

Taxable persons not registered for VAT purposes, even if they do not own a VAT account, have the obligation to pay the VAT amount related to purchases in the supplier's VAT account.

Where may be opened the VAT accounts

The VAT accounts are opened:

• By default at the State Treasury units; the accounts are not interest-bearing and no fees are charged, but the institution has not implemented Internet banking yet. These accounts are published on the ANAF website;
• Optionally, at commercial banks.

Scope

The split VAT payment applies to all the taxable supplies of goods/services for which the place of supply is considered to be in Romania from a VAT perspective.

The transactions for which the beneficiary is liable to pay the tax (reverse charge) and the transactions subject to special regimes, which by default do not have VAT on the invoice, are exempted.

Payments received in the VAT account

The VAT account will be credited mainly with:

• VAT received from customers for deliveries of goods/services (including VAT on advances);
• Amounts received as a result of taxable base adjustments (credit note invoices) or due to the correction of certain payment errors;
• Amounts transferred from the current account opened at the same bank;
• In what concerns the payments received in cash/card, the taxpayers are obliged to transfer in their own VAT account the amounts representing VAT from these transactions, within 7 working days. The deduction of the VAT from the payments performed in the same day is allowed.

Payments performed from the VAT account

The VAT account will be charged mainly with:

• VAT paid in the supplier’s VAT account related to the acquisitions of goods/services (including VAT on advances);
• VAT paid to the State Budget;
• Amounts resulted due to taxable base adjustments (credit note invoices) or due to the correction of certain payment errors, directly if the refund is made in another VAT account or with ANAF approval, if the refund is made in a current account;
• Amounts representing VAT paid cash or by card from the current account, with ANAF approval;
• Amounts transferred in the current account opened at the same bank, up to the amount previously transferred from the current account, with ANAF approval.

ANAF approval is requested by submitting an application (form 310) and it should be obtained within 3 working days.

Limitations on the VAT account

The VAT account has the following additional restrictions:

• It is forbidden to withdraw cash from the VAT account;
• The transfer from the VAT account to a current account is made only with the ANAF approval.

Date of entry into force

The VAT split payment system will be optional in the period 1 October – 31 December 2017, following to become mandatory starting with 1 January 2018.

During the optional application, only the companies that join the system will apply the provisions of the mentioned GO regarding the rules for receiving and making payments.

Facilities for optional application

The taxpayers who will opt for application of the VAT split payment after 1 October 2017 will benefit from the following facilities:

• Cancellation of late payment penalties related to VAT liabilities, outstanding as of 30 September 2017, subject certain conditions;
• A reduction of 5% in the corporate income tax/microenterprise income tax due for the fourth quarter of 2017 fiscal year.

Penalties

The main sanctions are:

• For erroneous payments/transfers that are corrected within a period from 7 working days to 30 days, a penalty of 0.06% per day is applied to the VAT amount erroneous paid.
• After the period of 30 days, fines of 50% of the VAT amount for the VAT payment into an account other than the supplier's VAT account and fines of 10% of the VAT amount for not depositing VAT amounts into the dedicated VAT account or payment of the VAT due to the supplier from another account than the VAT dedicated account.
• Not providing the clients/suppliers with details regarding VAT account number it is sanctioned with fines between RON 2.000 and RON 4.000.