Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) no. 59/2021 for amending and supplementing the Fiscal Code was published in the Official Gazette no. 630 of June 28, 2021.
Thus, the normative act implements in Romania, the community package related to VAT in the e-commerce era (electronic commerce), rules applicable from July 1, 2021.
The basis of this document was the need to adopt, until June 30, 2021, the act with the force of law regarding the transposition into national legislation of the provisions of art. 2 and 3 of Council Directive (EU) 2017 / 2.455 of 5 December 2017 amending Directive 2006/112 / EC and Directive 2009/132 / EC as regards certain VAT obligations for the provision of services and the sale of goods with subsequent amendments and completions, and of Council Directive (EU) 2019 / 1.995 of 21 November 2019 amending Directive 2006/112 / EC as regards the provisions relating to distance sales of goods and certain domestic deliveries of goods goods.
As a result, the new rules that will enter into force on July 1 will have as main purpose the simplification of the VAT declaration and payment procedure, the fight against VAT fraud and, implicitly, the reduction of the administrative burden for the business environment which, in the end, will facilitate cross-border trade.
The most important changes (in short):
- clarification of the definition of distance selling of goods, so that it appears that it also applies when the goods are transported or shipped on behalf of the supplier, including when the supplier is indirectly involved in the transport or shipment of goods;
- the concept of “distance sale of goods imported from third territories or third countries” is introduced (special VAT regime for imports);
- the designation of electronic interfaces (for example: a platform, a portal or other similar means) that facilitate the distance sale of goods imported from third territories or third countries in lots with an intrinsic value of maximum 150 euros, as well as the delivery of goods in the Community by a taxable person not established in the Community to a non-taxable person, as taxable persons who have received and delivered the goods themselves;
- the insertion of a new rule according to which the exigibility of VAT occurs at the moment when the payment was accepted, applicable in case the electronic interfaces are considered taxable persons that facilitate the sale of goods at a distance;
- the introduction of a VAT exemption for delivery to the interface, when this is considered a taxable person who facilitates the delivery of goods in the Community from a taxable person not established in the Community to a non-taxable person;
- clarifying the definition of the sale of goods at a distance, thus inc
- assigning the transport of goods for the delivery made by the electronic interface, in the situation where it is considered that the interface is the taxable person who received and delivered goods from the VAT point of view;
- the place of delivery in case of intra-community sales of goods at a distance will be considered the place where the goods are at the moment when the shipment or transport of the goods to the customer ends;
- introduction of provisions regarding the place of delivery in case of distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries, respectively:
– where the goods are imported into a Member State other than that in which the transport of the goods to the customer ends, the place shall be deemed to be where the goods are at the time the transport to the customer ends;
– where the goods are imported into the Member State in which the goods are transported to the customer, the place shall be deemed to be that Member State, provided that VAT on those goods is declared under the special import arrangements;
- establishing the place of delivery in the State of establishment of the supplier for intra-Community distance sales of taxable goods by taxable persons established in the Community but not in the Member State of consumption, up to a ceiling of EUR 10,000 per year (ceiling including intra-Community sales of distance goods, and the provision of telecommunications, broadcasting and television services and services provided electronically; value in lei – 46,337 lei); the ceiling was so far 35,000 euros (value in lei: 118,000 lei);
- the introduction of a VAT exemption for the import of goods, applicable only when the special import regime is used, and when, at the latest at the time of presentation of the import declaration, the individual registration code for VAT purposes for the application of the special regime, of its supplier of the intermediary acting on his behalf, has been provided to the competent customs office of the Member State of import;
- extension of the special regime for electronic, telecommunications, broadcasting and television services provided by non-EU taxable persons to non-taxable persons in the EU and for other services (special VAT regime – non-EU);
- extension of the special regime for electronic, telecommunications, broadcasting and television services provided by taxable persons established in the Community, but not in the Member State of consumption, for intra-Community distance sales of goods, for deliveries of domestic goods made by electronic interfaces which facilitates these deliveries for other services (special VAT – EU regime);
- change of the VAT declaration and payment period within the EU regime and the non-EU regime, the new term being until the end of the next month after the end of each calendar quarter;
- changing the manner of making changes to the special VAT return within all special regimes, in the sense that the changes will be included in a subsequent return within three years from the date on which the initial return had to be submitted;
- adapting the content of the VAT return used in the EU and non-EU regimes so that it also reflects the information on the intra-community sales of goods at a distance;
- elimination of the obligation of taxable persons applying the EU regime to issue invoices for intra-Community distance sales of goods;
- introduction of the obligation for electronic interfaces that facilitate the sale of goods at a distance and the provision of services to keep records of the operations performed, in electronic format;the records must be kept for a period of ten years from the end of the year in which the operation was carried out;
- introduction of the special regime for the distance sale of goods imported from third territories or third countries, in lots with an intrinsic value of maximum 150 euros, except for excisable goods, because excise duties are part of the VAT tax base on import;
- correlation of the import regime with the elimination of the VAT exemption for the imports of goods whose value does not exceed 10 euros;
- introduction of a special mechanism for declaring and paying VAT on import applicable when the import regime is not used.