The Government approved the transposition of the Regulation on the taxation of the excess profits of energy companies, as a result of which 3.9 billion RON will be collected in a special fund, secretary of state with the Ministry of Finance Mihai Diaconu informed after the government meeting, Agerpres reports.

According to him, the companies considered by the Regulation are large companies with significant profits, „those that in the past years have performed extraordinarily, and now it is their turn, as stipulated by the European Regulation, to contribute so that we can overcome this difficult period as easily as possible.”

Thus, the respective taxpayers are commercial companies that carry out activities in the crude oil, natural gas, coal and refineries sectors. The taxable base is represented by what exceeds by more than 20% the average profits for the last four years, respectively 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

„As the Regulation stipulates, Romania has transposed this provision very accurately. The tax rate is 60% of the extra profit that exceeds the average by 20%. And, this is very important, as I have mentioned earlier, of this amount collected in this special fund, at least 70% will be distributed to finance strategic investments, as well as investments in energy efficiency and energy from renewable sources. The payment deadline will be June 25, 2023, for the profit of the year that has not yet been completed, 2022, and June 25, 2024 for the profit that will be made in 2023,” explained Mihai Diaconu.

He mentioned that the project obtained the approval of the Economic and Social Council (CES) on Wednesday.

When asked how the money is distributed, the secretary of state specified that the ordinance establishes only the „primary basis”, with the criteria and actual mechanism to be later established through a government decision, based on a proposal by the Ministry of Energy. The money will be placed in an account at the Treasury and will be accessed as the investments are made. Investments can also be made by companies that are taxpayers. The main purpose of the measure is to encourage investments.

Also, when asked about the amounts that could be raised in the respective fund, Mihai Diaconu stated that the estimates of the Ministry of Finance are rather pessimistic, of a minimum 3.9 billion RON.

Agerpres