Vat Enforcement By The Romanian Tax Authorities In The Context Of The Uniform Imposition Of Vat In The European Union

VAT enforcement by the Romanian tax authorities has recently been discussed by the European Court of Justice in a preliminary ruling concerning the correct imposition of VAT and the taxpayers’ rights in challenging the said decision to impose. Since Romania is a member of the European Union it is obliged to comply with the European regulations in place, in this case being the Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, as it was modified by the Council Directive 2010/45/EU of 13 July 2010 amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax as regards the rules on invoicing. The Romanian tax authorities, when controlling taxpayers, if the latter request a VAT reimbursement, have the right to impose a control on the taxpayers’ activity that generated the said reimbursement. Furthermore, when controlling the activity of a taxpayer, the National Agency for Fiscal Administration has the right to extend the said control to any and all activities and reports that entail and are relevant to the imposition. While the context is understandable, and a larger control is sometimes required in order to prevent possible tax evasion and an illegal VAT reimbursement, one must understand that such a control must not, in any circumstance lead to an abusive control or an abusive imposition.