Legislative summary - New facilities for payment of rent

Please be informed that in the Official Gazette no. 425 / 21.05.2020, Law 62/2020 on the application of rent payment facilities for the period related to the state of emergency was published, which enters into force starting with May 24, 2020. The main provisions provided by this normative act:
 
Tenants, economic operators, practitioners of the liberal professions, legal entities under private law, whose activity has been interrupted or whose incomes or revenues have decreased by at least 15% in March 2020 compared to the average of the last calendar year in the period of application of the state of emergency, natural persons economically affected directly or indirectly during the period of application of the state of emergency, may postpone upon request, without payment of interest and penalties, the payment of rent for the use of real estate registered as premises, offices or homes. 

The tenants who meet the above conditions can ask the tax authorities to pay the rent in their place, on behalf of the lessors, following that the debt to the tax authorities will be paid by the tenants until 31.12.2020. 

The tenant's application will be accompanied by the following:

• The lease contract between the lessor and the lessee;
• An additional deed between the landlord and the tenant to the lease, which will contain the following:
  • The agreement of the parties for the postponement of the rent payment, the duration of the postponement period of the rent payment, the amount related to this postponement period;
  • Identification data of the lessor and the lessee;
  • The data of the bank account of the lessor in which the payment is to be made by the competent territorial fiscal body;
  • Date of signing and signatures of both parties;
• Any kind of document of the tenant that proves the impossibility of paying the rent within the period specified in the additional deed between the landlord and the tenant.

Tenants who cumulatively meet the following conditions may request the payment of the rent by the tax authorities:

• Monthly rent specified in the additional act between the landlord and tenant by which it was agreed to postpone the rent payment is lower, at most equal to the rent from February 2020;
• The value of the monthly rent from the additional act is of maximum 10,000 RON for the economic operators for each location and maximum 2,000 RON for natural persons for a single location.

Tenants, individuals, including individuals who obtained in 2019 rental income from more than 5 leases (from 2020 these revenues are included in income from independent activities), which reduce the rent established under a lease / sublease or usufruct with at least 30% of the value from February 2020 are exempt from income tax and health insurance contribution for this revenues for the period for which the rent reduction is applied but not more than December 31, 2020.

Income from rents obtained by corporate tax payers and micro-enterprise tax payers who reduce the rent established on the basis of a lease / sublease contract or usufruct by at least 20% compared to the value from February 2020, are taxable only in proportion of 80 % of their value for the period for which the decrease of the rent value was negotiated, but not more than December 31, 2020.