​The Liberals are asking Adrian Cachiu, the finance minister, to explain why he found himself in a situation where OMV does not pay the solidarity tax, arguing that according to his analysis, the five European states that have transposed the provision have chosen not to introduce CAEN codes into law , as Romania did.

The first vice-president of PNL, Raresh Bohdan, claims that the argument about the mandatory mention of CAEN codes during transposition is “false”. This issue will also be discussed at the Coalition.

• “Since the corresponding regulation was transposed in five states, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and the ministries of finance of the respective countries did not implement the CAEN codes during the transposition, the question of the mandatory adoption of the CAEN codes for the transposition of the provision is erroneous, and here the Ministry of public finance, the Minister of Finance, Adrian Cachu, must provide an explanation.
• Tell us why exactly this situation is being created in the Ministry of Finance, regarding the transfer of the relevant resolution to the resolution adopted by the Government on December 20, because the Romanian state, the Romanian citizen, the Romanian taxpayer are watching with amazement. as in this country of 672 thousand companies that pay taxes, and if they don’t, the control authorities of the Romanian state block the corresponding accounts and go against the administrators and shareholders and the capital of the company, have a completely different status than that of the OMV corporation or other corporations, who are just defying and through the management and taking profits out of borders for many years and no one is doing anything now about the tax where they still have to pay more than a billion to the Romanian state, they refuse to pay saying we have already paid a lot to the Romanian state .
• I am only interested in one thing, the European Commission regulation should be transposed through GEO. The OUG existed and someone wrote the OUG, I don’t want to think that he is a scoundrel, but just a fool, and then it needs to be corrected,” PNL First Vice-President, MEP Rares said on Digi24. Bohdan

At the end of last year, the government passed GEO (186/2022), according to which the additional profit of producers of crude oil, gas and oil refineries will be taxed at a rate of 60%. The tax base is an amount that is more than 20% higher than the average profit for the last four years.

At the beginning of the year, OMV Petrom announced that it would not pay the solidarity tax introduced by the Government at the end of last year, with less than 75% of turnover from the specified sectors: crude oil production, natural gas production, oil extraction and production of refined products.

The European Commission has responded to the Romanian government, which asked for clarification after the Austrian company announced that it will not pay solidarity tax this year because it does not fall under the provisions of the regulation, having less than 75% of its turnover from the defined sectors: oil production, natural gas production, oil production and production of oil refining products.

The European Commission’s answer consists of three points

PSD spokesman Radu Oprea said on Digi FM on Tuesday that the response received from the European Commission shows that the threshold of 75% of turnover from taxable sectors (crude oil production, natural gas production, oil production and production of products obtained from oil refining) cannot be reduced.

“The answer came from the European Commission, there are three points in the answer. The first refers to 75%, to this percentage of turnover, where the commission responds that by regulation this is the minimum that can be applied. So Romania applied the provision correctly, you cannot reduce it. The Commission’s second reply states that the five CAEN codes from the European regulation are correctly applied in the emergency regulation, and there is another question that says whether the products obtained as a result of processing, diesel fuel, gasoline, if they are included in these codes Here, the European Commission responds that they need more details to better understand the business model,” Radu Oprea was quoted as saying by Digi 24.

Kechiu demands payment from OMV

Finance Minister Adrian Caciu later announced OMV’s position that Romania had asked the European Commission for clarification on the application of the provision on solidarity contributions by companies that made exceptional profits during the energy crisis.

He added that if necessary, the emergency order adopted at the end of the year for the application of the European regulation will be changed to make all those who took advantage of the crisis pay.

“The government also introduced joint and several contribution, adopting almost everything written in the regulation, including elements that cause a number of elements of interpretation, namely the reference to at least 75% of turnover in certain sectors. The goal is this: those who have received exceptional profits and income from energy will pay in solidarity to offset the rising cost of living for both citizens and businesses. In order to avoid confusion, if you will, in the interpretation of both the regulation and the resolution, we have asked the European Commission to make an interpretation rule. From my point of view, everything is clear. Everyone will pay this tax,” Cachiu said on January 18.

Prior to the European Commission’s response, ANAF had started inspections at OMV regarding the solidarity tax, although it did not know whether the company had to pay it.

“ANAF has not made any report on the inspections carried out in OMV because we are waiting for clarification from the Commission as a result of the letter sent by the Ministry of Finance to clarify how the regulation will be applied. Only then will we complete this review and be able to say whether OMV complies with the terms of Decree 186,” according to ANAF’s Jan. 27 position.

Romgaz pays solidarity tax

Romgaz, on the other hand, will pay the tax: 906.1 million lei.

Romgaz is 70% owned by the Romanian state through the Ministry of Energy, and the rest by other shareholders (such as investment funds, pension funds or individuals). For example, NN Group owns 5.36%.