The fight against tax evasion cannot be seriously discussed without addressing the issue of inactive companies, and for this reason, we are bringing all these companies to light and forcing them either to declare their activity again or be dissolved, liquidated and struck off, said Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare.

‘We cannot seriously talk about combating tax evasion without authentically addressing the situation of inactive companies in Romania. It is time to dismantle this cover behind which over 460,000 inactive companies have been hiding. It’s not fair. It’s not fair to the taxpayer who meets their obligations to the Tax Authority to have so many companies ignoring theirs, operating under the radar and carrying out all sorts of evasion and fraud schemes without proper control. We are bringing all these companies to light and requiring them, within a period of one month and three months, either to declare their activity again and operate legitimately or be dissolved, liquidated, and struck off, because we must impose order in the way we treat these companies, especially for those who behave correctly. For all companies that act correctly,’ Nazare said in a video message posted on his Facebook page.

The minister stressed that over 120,000 of the inactive companies have debts amounting to 3.5 billion lei, and nearly 300,000 have been inactive for over five years.

‘We cannot build a fair economy as long as phantom companies block the market and create unfair competition for entrepreneurs who work hard and pay their taxes on time. Therefore, in the second package of measures, we are proposing new criteria for declaring a company inactive – such as not having a bank account and failing to submit annual financial statements within the legal timeframe – as well as limiting the period during which a company can remain inactive (a maximum of one year for fiscal inactivity, and a maximum of three years for voluntary inactivity),’ the minister of Finance added on the social media platform.

AGERPRES