Draft Law on Tax Amnesty

Some 20,000 pensioners and 12,500 mothers will be exempted from paying back the undue gains due to administrative errors

România Internațional, 20.08.2014, 13:18

The Romanian Government on Tuesday approved two draft laws on exempting pensioners and mothers from paying back their undue gains due to faults within the administrative system. Thirty thousand pensioners and some 13 thousand mothers with child rearing benefits will become eligible for tax amnesty. Labour Minister Rovana Plumb says the measure will apply to all pensioners in the public sector until the law comes into effect. Rovana Plumb:

“The law exempts all pensioners from paying their outstanding debts to the social security system with the exception of debts accrued due to the exclusive fault of pensioners, meaning by submitting false income statements and documents. The National Pension Authority will be in charge with verifying all these cases”.

Some 9,500 pensioners have been found guilty of tax fraud by submitting false statements or inaccurate documents for personal benefit, and will have to pay back these unduly gains within 3 years. Mothers accruing debts through personal fault will also be held accountable. Rovana Plumb again:

“Eligible for tax amnesty will be the mothers who received child-rearing benefits and obtained additional gains that they reported to fiscal administrations”.

According to the Ministry, the amnesty law will apply to 30 thousand pensioners who accrued some 14.5 million euros in debt and to 12.500 mothers with 3.3 million euros in debt. Rovana Plumb says these sums will not affect the social security budget for 2014. The two bills will be submitted to Parliament for debate and approval. Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Parliament might make additional categories of people eligible for tax amnesty, should similar problems be discovered. The Government must deal with the cases where civil servants err to the detriment of the citizens, Ponta went on to say.

The Government should send out a message to these people to prevent them from panicking and to reassure them they won’t have to pay back any undue benefits accrued through no fault of their own. The press has reported several cases of pensioners who committed suicide for fear of having to pay back the money they had received unlawfully for several years.