Tax inspection conclusions at a company whose activity is “Supporting service activities to water transport”, CAEN code 5222.
Period checked: 01.01.2017-31.12.2021 for Value Added Tax.
The principles of the tax inspection authority’s observations were:
During the verified period, the company was found to have carried out the following types of operations:
Operations subject to the rate of 20% (related to reversals of advances received in 2016) and 19% (in the period 2017-2021), for operations representing: customs formalities services, provision of cargo handling services, other port services, internal transport, etc.;
Exempt transactions with right of deduction under Art. 294, para. (1), Title III of Law no. 227/2015 on the Tax Code, as amended and supplemented, representing the provision of services, including transport and services incidental to transport, other than those referred to in Art. 292, if they are directly related to the importation of goods and their value is included in the taxable amount of imported goods according to Art. 289, these services consisting of containerised transport of goods (international maritime transport, local transport, etc.), but services related to transport (loading/unloading of goods on ships, handling of goods in port/terminals, etc.), related to imports to customers established in Romania.
The tax inspection authority found that the audited company erroneously applied the tax exemption for transport services and services ancillary to the transport of goods invoiced to customers of the intermediary company, without complying with the provisions of Art. 294, para. (1) letter c) of Law 227/2015 on the Tax Code, in the sense that the legislation expressly provides that transport services must be directly related to the export of goods and that there must be a direct legal link between the provider and the beneficiary (exporter/consignor or importer).
S.C. X S.R.L. did not hold documents to justify the exemption for transport services and transport accessories related to the export of goods for invoices amounting to x lei for which, following the tax inspection, VAT was collected in the amount of x lei.
It was also found that S.C. X S.R.L. did not hold documents to justify the tax exemption for transport services and transport accessories related to import, for which additional VAT of x lei was collected”.
Source: ANAF