Capital gains tax rise delayed one month

The increase in tax on gains from interest payments and gains by natural persons from the capital market is to be postponed by one month until May 1 to allow the institutions involved to prepare for the implementation of the regulations, Ionut Popescu, the Minister of Public Finances, announced on Tuesday following a meeting with Senators from the government coalition. “We decided that the banks, who calculate the level of tax on interest payments, and brokers, in terms of capital market gains, both need more time to prepare their information programmes. We have decided to introduce this measure as of May 1 so that in effect they have just over a month to get ready,” said Popescu.

A week ago he announced that the modifications would come into effect as of April 1 and not March 1, as hinted at in a series of statements by Calin Popescu Tariceanu, the Prime Minister, and vice-premier Adriean Videanu, the chief negotiator with the IMF

On Tuesday, Popescu presented Senators with the main provisions of the ordinance modifying the Fiscal Code. These include the lifting from 1% to 10% of the tax on gains derived from the sale of stock and real estate and interest payments.

Tax on interest and tax on real estate transactions will be raised to 16% on January 1 2006, the minister said, though the increase in excises would come into effect as of April 1.