Question of the day

The Ministry of Finance informs that the fiscal measures to support the agricultural sector affected by natural disasters have entered into force. The Law amending certain legislative acts No 176/2020 was published in the Official Gazette of today, 23 September, as well as Order No 118/2020 of the Minister for Finance amending the Regulation on the method of subsidising interest on bank loans taken out in the period from 1 May 2020 to 31 December 2020 and the Regulation on the refund of VAT to businesses that are registered as VAT taxpayers and register amounts of VAT for deduction in the subsequent period. These measures are geared towards agricultural producers affected by natural disasters on the 2020 harvest.

The law establishes more favourable conditions for the application of the Interest Subsidy Programme and the VAT refund programme by agricultural producers affected by natural disasters. Thus, the amount liable to refund of VAT was increased by the amount of land tax calculated and declared, and the condition of payment of labour taxes in order to benefit from the VAT refund was excluded. The deadline for the refund of VAT by the State Tax Service and the State Treasury has also been reduced from 25 to 15 days.

Similarly, the law provides for interest payments to be subsidised irrespective of the period during which the loans were taken out. The subsidy shall be paid in respect of interest paid from 1 May 2020 up to and including December 2020.

It has also been established moratorium on tax controls until 31 December 2020, with the exception of: the control carried out in relation to the refund/refund of taxes, duties and other payments from the national public budget and the control necessary for the realisation of the amount of the State’s claims, in the context of the process of insolvency or liquidation of natural or legal persons carrying out business activity.

We would point out that agricultural producers affected by natural disasters are considered to have incurred losses of agricultural production of more than 50 %, over an area of at least 30 % of the total land held in use and/or possession, as a result of natural disasters occurring in 2020, determined in accordance with the findings approved by the Exceptional Situations Commissions.

These measures aim to mitigate the effects of drought and other natural disasters on agricultural production by allocating liquidity to agricultural producers.

Applications for interest subsidies and VAT refunds, under favourable conditions, may be submitted by agricultural producers affected by natural disasters, starting today, to the Directorate-General for Tax Administration of the place of service or to the Directorate-General for Large Taxpayers of the State Tax Service, as the case may be, both electronically and on paper.

We would reiterate that the Ministry of Finance is working to identify and implement measures aimed at supporting the agricultural sector, including with a view to mitigating the consequences of drought and other natural disasters occurring in the country.

Source: monitor.fisc.md