Legislative news march 2020 - Economic and fiscal-budgeting measures during the state of national emergency

Emergency Ordinance no. 29/2020 regarding some economic and fiscal-budgetary measures (Official Gazette no. 230 / 21.03.2020)

• The normative act enters into force starting March 21, 2020 and provides the following measures:

Support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises

• The granting of state guarantees in favor of each beneficiary participating in the program for one of the following categories of credits, as follows

1. one or more credits for investments and/or one or more credits/lines of credit for working capital, guaranteed by the State, through the Ministry of Public Finance, in a percentage of maximum 80% of the financing value, excluding interest, commissions and bank charges related to the secured credit. The maximum cumulative value of state guaranteed financing that can be granted to a beneficiary within this facility is 10,000,000 lei. The maximum value of the credits/lines of credit for financing the working capital granted to a beneficiary cannot exceed the average of the expenses related to the working capital of the last 2 fiscal years, within the limit of 5,000,000 lei. For investment loans, the maximum value of the financing is 10,000,000 lei. For IMMs (small and medium enterprises) that did not submit financial statements at the time of applying for the secured loan, the maximum financing value for working capital loans/credit lines will be calculated as double the average of the working capital expenses from the monthly balances. For these loans, the Ministry of Public Finance grants interest on credits/lines of credit for financing working capital and loans for investments in 100% of the budget of the Ministry of Public Finance - General Actions, or
    
2. one or more guarantees for loans/lines of credit for financing working capital, excluding interest, commissions and bank charges related to the state guaranteed credit, up to a maximum of 90% granted to a micro-enterprise or small enterprise, with a maximum value of 500,000 lei for micro-enterprises, respectively maximum 1,000,000 lei for small businesses. The maximum value of each financing granted to a beneficiary may not exceed the average of the expenses related to the working capital of the last 2 fiscal years, within the limits of the previously provided thresholds. For microenterprises or small businesses that have not submitted financial statements at the time of applying for the guaranteed loan, the maximum financing value for credits/lines of credit for working capital will be calculated as double the average of the expenses related to working capital from the monthly balances.

• For the above facilities, granted as part of a state aid/the minimis scheme associated with this program, the Ministry of Public Finance grants interest on credits/lines of credit for financing working capital and loans for investments in 100% of budget Ministry of Public Finance - General Actions.
   
• The interest subsidy period is from the moment of granting the credits/lines of credit contracted after March 21, 2020 and may last until March 31, 2021. The interest subsidy is approved annually by a normative act with the power of law for the first year and for the next 2 years only under the conditions in which the economic growth estimated by the National Strategy and Forecast Commission for this period is below the level registered in 2020. The interest subsidy is realized in compliance with the provisions of the legislation in the field of state aid in force.
   
• The maximum duration of the financing is 120 months in the case of investment loans and 36 months in the case of credits/lines of credit for working capital. The credits/lines of credit for working capital can be extended by a maximum of 36 months, following which, in the last year of extension, they will be reimbursed under the conditions established by the methodological norms.
   

Regulations regarding the interest and penalties for unpaid fiscal obligations

The deadline for the payment of local taxes (on buildings, land, means of transport) scheduled for March 31, 2020 is postponed until June 30, 2020. The discount provided for advance payment will be applied if payment is made by the new date.  

Reglementări privind dobânzile și penalitățile pentru datoriile fiscale neachitate

• There is no interest due and late penalties for fiscal obligations due starting with March 21, 2020 (including those due on March 25, 2020) and unpaid until the cessation of the state of emergency and 30 days after the cessation of this state. These obligations will not be considered as outstanding fiscal obligations;
   
• Also, during the state of emergency and until the expiration of 30 days from the cessation of the state of emergency, the measures of forced execution by suspension of budgetary receivables are suspended or not started, with the exception of the forced executions that are applied for the recovery of the budgetary receivables established by court decisions pronounced in criminal matters;
   
• The proposal to postpone the deadline for submitting the fiscal statements for February 2020 was cancelled.
   

Prepaid profit tax

• There is suspended the advance payments to the profit tax for 2020 for the taxpayers who apply the system of declaration and payment of the tax on the annual profit, with advance payments made quarterly, determined quarterly in the amount of one-fourth of the tax on profit due for the previous year, updated with the consumer price index, estimated when the initial budget of the year for which the advance payments are made is prepared. Thus, these taxpayers can make quarterly advance payments for 2020, at the level resulting from the calculation of the current quarterly profit tax. The calculation method is kept for all quarters of fiscal year 2020.
   
• For taxpayers who have opted for a different fiscal year than the calendar one, the above option applies for advance payments due for the remaining quarters of the modified year ending in 2020, as well as for the calculation of those related to the quarters from the modified fiscal year. which starts in 2020 and are included in the calendar year 2020.
   

Delays in payment of rent and utilities

• During the state of emergency, small and medium-sized enterprises that have discontinued their activity in whole or in part based on the decisions issued by the competent public authorities and who hold the emergency situation certificate issued by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business, benefit from the postponement to pay for utilities services - electricity, natural gas, water, telephone and internet services, as well as from the postponement the rent for the building for social headquarters and secondary offices.
   
• By derogation from other legal provisions, in the ongoing contracts, in other cases than those provided for in the above point, the force majeure can be invoked but only after trying, evidenced by documents communicated between the parties by any means, including by electronic means, of renegotiation of the contract, to adapt their clauses taking into account the exceptional conditions generated by the state of emergency.
   
• It is presumed to be a case of force majeure, the unpredictable, absolutely invincible and inevitable circumstance, which resulted from an action of the authorities in applying the measures imposed by the prevention and control of the pandemic caused by the infection with the COVID-19 coronavirus, which affected the activity of the small business and means, damage attested by the emergency situation certificate. The presumption can be overturned by the interested party by any means of proof. The unpredictable character is related to the moment of the birth of the affected legal report. The measures taken by the authorities in accordance with the normative act that established the state of emergency will not be unpredictable.
   

Postponing the deadline for submitting the statement regarding the real beneficiary

• The deadline for submitting the declaration regarding the real beneficiary is extended by 3 months from the date of cessation of the emergency state (initially the deadline for submitting the declaration regarding the real beneficiary was July 21, 2020 for the companies established before July 21, 2019 and 15 days after the approval of the financial statements, and if there is a modification regarding the identification data of the real beneficiary, the declaration is submitted within 15 days from the date on which it intervened, for the companies established after July 21, 2019);
   
• During the state of emergency, it is suspended the submission of the declaration and the completion of the documents for the cases in which changes are made regarding the data of the beneficiary or if a company or fundation is established.
   

Facilities granted by the state during the state of emergency

Emergency Ordinance no. 30/2020 for the modification and completion of some normative acts, as well as for establishing measures in the field of social protection in the context of the epidemiological situation determined by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (Official Gazette no. 231 / 21.03.2020).
 

Free days paid for parents

• Parents of children who are forced to stay at home can benefit from paid days off, when the schools are temporarily closed due to weather or other reasons (due to coronavirus), whether the parents are employed in the public or private environment;
   
• In order to grant paid days off in the case of temporary closure of schools (except for working days during school holidays), one of the parents will have to submit an application to the employer accompanied by a declaration on their own responsibility, stating that the other parent does not he also submitted such a request or is not in the situations provided by law for which no paid days off are granted, as well as a copy of the child's/children's birth certificate. The application form is provided as the annex of Government decision no. 217/2020 for the application of the provisions of Law no. 19/2020 regarding the granting of free days to the parents for the supervision of the children, in the situation of the temporary closure of the educational units published in Official Gazette no. 230/21.03.2020.
   
• There are no paid days off in situations where one of the parents is on child-raising leave, is the personal assistant of one of the dependent children, is on vacation leave or without payment or does not obtain revenues subject to income tax, or is in technical unemployment;
   
• Free days will be granted only to parents whose children are up to 12 years old (18 years for children with disabilities), and the work place does not allow work at home or telemarket, and these days, parents will receive from employers a compensation of 75% of the basic salary corresponding to a working day, but not more than the correspondent per day of 75% of the average gross salary used to substantiate the state social insurance budget. The indemnity is subject to the taxation and payment of social insurance contributions that are borne by the employer;
   
• The employer will pay the compensation to the employees and then they will request electronically at settlement only the amounts representing the net allowance, actually collected by the parent. The application is submitted to the agency for employment (AJOFM) in which the territorial area operates.

According to GD no. 217/2020 the request will be accompanied by the following documents:

1. the list of employees who have benefited from the free days, as well as the allowance granted during this period;
2. copies from the payment states from which the award of the indemnity may be granted;
3. the declaration on the own responsibility of the legal representative of the employer, attesting that the list of employees contains the persons who fulfill the conditions required by law to benefit from paid days off; the model of the declaration is approved by order of the president of the National Agency for Employment, which is published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I;
4. proof of payment of the contributions and taxes related to the month in which the allowance was paid.
    

• The application, accompanied by the above documents, is sent by electronic mail to the electronic address communicated by the agencies for the employment of the county, respectively of the municipality of Bucharest, no later than 30 days from the date of the payment of the contributions and taxes related to the compensation.
   
• In case the request accompanied by the documents required by law cannot be transmitted by electronic mail, they will be transmitted by any other means of communication.
   
• Settlement of the amounts paid as indemnity for free days paid to the parents is made within 60 calendar days from the date of registration of the documents submitted by the employer.
   
• The agencies for county employment, respectively of the municipality of Bucharest have the obligation that, within 24 hours from the receipt by electronic mail or by other means (directly at the counter or by post) of the documents submitted by the employer, to communicate to the employer the number request registration.

Insertion stimulus

The insertion stimulus is granted for a period of 90 days in the case of persons who, starting with March 21, 2020, are in one or more of the following situations:

• benefit for medical leave and allowances for temporary incapacity for work, caused by common illnesses or accidents outside work, medical leave and allowances for the prevention of illnesses and recovery of work capacity, exclusively for situations resulting from work accidents or occupational diseases, medical leave and allowances for the care of the sick child;
   
• benefit for the leave provided by Law no. 19/2020 regarding granting free days to parents for the supervision of children, in the situation of temporary closure of educational units;
   
• they are in technical unemployment according to art. 52 paragraph (1) lit. c) of the Labor Code;
   
• hey were suspended or terminated their employment or service relationship, as a result of establishing the emergency situation.

If, after the 90-day period, the entitled person realizes income subject to income tax, then the insertion incentive is granted, according to the law, until the child reaches the age of 3 or 4 years in the case of the disabled child.

The provisions presented above apply properly also to the persons who have a disabled child and have a working program reduced to 4 hours until the age of 18 years.
 

Technical unemployment

• It enters into force starting March 21, 2020.
   
• During the state of emergency, for the period of temporary suspension of the individual employment contract, at the initiative of the employer, according to art. 52 paragraph (1) lit. c) from the Labor Code, as a result of the effects produced by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the indemnity that the employees benefit from are set at 75% of the basic salary corresponding to the occupied work place and are supported from the unemployment insurance budget, but no more than 75% of the average gross salary. The average gross salary for the year 2020 is 5,429 lei. Maximum 75% of the average gross salary represents 4,072 lei, the net equivalent of 2,382 lei.
   
• The indemnity is subject to the taxation and payment of the compulsory social contributions according to the Fiscal Code (there is no insurance contribution for the work). The calculation, withholding and payment of income tax, the contribution of state social insurance and the contribution of social health insurance is made by the employer from the indemnity collected from the unemployment insurance budget. The declaration of this indemnity is made by the statement 112 "Declaration regarding the payment obligations of the social contributions, the income tax and the nominal evidence of the insured persons". The term of payment and declaration of fiscal obligations is given 25, inclusive, of the month following the month in which the payment is made from the unemployment insurance budget.

Employees can benefit from these allowances from employers which:
 

• iscontinue the activity in whole or in part based on the decisions issued by the public authorities during the emergency state decreed, and hold the certificate of emergency situations issued by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment (a normative act is to be published regulating the procedure of obtaining it);
   
• reduce the activity due to the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic and do not have the financial capacity to pay the payment of all the salaries of their employees. Employers can benefit from the payment of the technical unemployment allowance for up to 75% of the employees who have individual labor contracts active on March 21, 2020. In this case, the payment of the technical unemployment benefit will be made on the basis of a declaration on their own responsibility from which can be seen that the employer registers a decrease of the previous month's receipts, with a minimum percentage of 25% compared to the average of the incomes from January-February 2020, and that he does not have the financial capacity to pay all the employees.

In order to grant the technical unemployment allowance, employers must submit electronically to the agencies for county employment within the radius of which they have a registered office accompanied by the list of persons who will benefit from this allowance. They are submitted in the current month for the payment of the previous month's allowance. Payment from the unemployment insurance budget for these allowances is made no later than 30 days from the submission of the documents and can be covered by external funds non-reimbursable through the Ministry of European Funds.
 

Measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19

Ordering no. 2/2020 MILITARY regarding measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Official Gazette no. 232 / 21.03.2020)

The following measures shall enter into force starting March 22, 2020, at 22.00:
 

• The activity in the dental medicine offices is temporarily suspended. By exception, emergency dental interventions are allowed.
   
• Temporarily suspend the retail activities of products and services in shopping centers (malls, commercial galleries, markets) in which several economic operators operate, except for the sale of food, veterinary or pharmaceutical products and cleaning services. 
   
• The movement of persons outside the home/household is carried out only in compliance with the general measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to avoid the formation of any group larger than 3 persons who do not live together.

Between 6.00 and 22.00, it is recommended that the movement of persons outside the home/household be carried out only for the following reasons:
 

• travel in professional interest, including between the home/household and the place/places of the professional activity and back;
   
• the movement to provide goods that cover the basic needs of the persons and the pets, as well as goods necessary for the professional activity;
   
• the travel for medical assistance that cannot be delayed nor carried out remotely;
   
• displacement for justified reasons, such as caring/accompanying the child, assisting elderly, sick or disabled persons or death of a family member;
   
• short trips, near the house/household, related to the individual physical activity of the people and the needs of the pets / pets.
   

Between 22.00 and 6.00, the movement of persons outside the home/household is allowed only for the reasons set out above.

In order to verify the reason for moving in the professional interest at night, the persons are obliged to present, at the request of the personnel of the authorized authorities, the legitimacy of service, the certificate issued by the employer or a statement on their own responsibility (attached).

In order to verify the reason for the trip in personal interest at night, the persons are obliged to submit, at the request of the personnel of the authorized authorities, a declaration on their own responsibility, completed in advance.

The declaration on its own responsibility must include the first and last name, date of birth, address of the home/household/place of professional activity, the reason for the move, the date of completion and the signature.

The personnel from the Presidential Administration, the Parliament of Romania, the Government of Romania, the Public Ministry, the institutions of the national defense system, public order and national security, the diplomatic corps and the personnel providing public utility services are exempt from these provisions.

It is forbidden to enter the territory of Romania, through the crossing points of the state border, of foreign citizens and stateless persons, except for the situation in which they transit the territory of Romania by transit color organized by agreements with the neighboring states.

By exception, foreign citizens and stateless persons belonging to the following categories are allowed to enter the territory of Romania:

Other measures coming into force starting March 21, 2020:

• Individuals isolated at home, as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, who leave the place where they were placed, without the approval of the competent authorities, are considered persons with an increased risk of contagiousness and are led by public order forces and placed in institutionalized quarantine, under guard. These persons are not exempt from civil or criminal liability.
   
• The quarantined persons, as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, who leave the place where they were placed, without the approval of the competent authorities, are quarantined for a new period of 14 days. These persons are not exempt from civil or criminal liability. These persons are not exempt from civil or criminal liability.
   
• The authorities of the local public administration have the obligation to identify and keep records of persons over 65 years of age, without supporters or other form of assistance, and to ensure their support in order to minimize their exposure outside the houses.
   
• Services can be celebrated in the places of worship by the church/religious servants, without the public access, the jobs can be transmitted in the media or online.
   
• Liturgical/religious acts of private character (baptism, weddings, funerals), which can be attended by a maximum of 8 persons, as well as the sharing of the sick believers in the hospital or in their domicile.
  
   

Updating the value of meal tickets

Law no. 24/2020 for the modification of art. 14 of Law no. 165/2018 regarding the issuing of the value tickets (Official Gazette no. 229 / 20.03.2020)

• It enters into force starting April 1, 2020;
  ​
• The nominal value of a meal ticket may not exceed the amount of 20 lei.

For more details, contact us here.