Law no. 31/20, of 11 August, which approves the amendments to the 2020 State Budget Law, was published in the National Gazette.

Among the amendments to the initial document, the following should be highlighted:

Exceptional regime for the settlement of tax obligations

Approval of the exceptional regime for the settlement of tax obligations, according to which the settlement of tax debts in court litigation, whose processes have been filed until March 31 , 2020, can benefit from the pardon of interest and penalties, as well as a 30% reduction of the tax due.

In order to apply to the regime, the taxpayer has to withdraw its legal action and settle its debt within 60 days of the date of the entrance into force of the Law.

The referred payments can be made in installments, upon request addressed to the competent Tax Office.

Statute of Limitation

The statute of limitation regarding the tax obligations for 2015 tax year is exceptionally extended until December 31, 2021.

Special Consumption Tax

The Special Consumption tax rate for tobacco and its derivatives is increased from 25% to 30%. The rate for vehicles set out in Annex I of the Special Consumption Tax Code is increased from 2% to 10%.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

The VAT rate on the following transactions is set at 5%:

• Import and transmission of the goods listed in the table in Annex I of the VAT Code (basic basket);
• Reimportation of goods exported, in the same condition in which they were exported, when they benefit of exemption from customs duties.

VAT will also be levied on customs value, added by the following charges:

• Import duties and taxes or fees due on importation, with the exception of VAT;
• Ancillary expenses such as packaging, transport, insurance and other charges, including port or airport expenses that occur up to the first place of destination of goods in the country.

It is now subject to VAT, at the rate of 14%, the gambling and social entertainment, as well as the respective commissions and all related operations, when they are subject to the Special Tax on Gambling, under the terms of the applicable legislation.

Customs tariff

Finally, it should also be noted that the customs tariff approved by Presidential Legislative Decree no. 10/19, of 29 November, was revoked, and its amendments were subsequently approved.