The Romanian government have recently published a new draft of the country’s Fiscal Code, which includes the proposal for a tax hike on online gambling withdrawals up to as much as 40%.
The Romanian Ministry of Finance published this code and updated the country’s existing tax laws.
Until now, any gambling withdrawals in the country that were less than RON66,750 (£11,576/$13,980/€13,493) were taxed at a value of 1% and any withdrawals between RON66,750 and RON445,000 were taxed at 16% as well as an extra payment of RON667.50. Any withdrawals larger than that faced a tax of 25%.
But under the new proposal, any withdrawals up to RON3,000 will face a tax of 10%, and any between RON3,000 and RON10,000 will be taxed at 20% and an additional RON3,000 payment. Any gambling withdrawals higher than RON10,000 will be taxed at 40% as well as an additional RON1,700 fee.
This tax will be applied to each individual withdrawal.
The concerns with this tax hike were noted by the Association of Remote Gambling Organisations (AOJND) who pointed out that this could push players further towards illegal operators.
It could also result in online gambling operators paying an estimated 50% less in tax because of the overall reduction in player activity.
The president of the AOJND, Odeta Nestor, said: “I have often emphasised that Romania is a success story in terms of gambling legislation. But this situation depends on the ability of the authorities to maintain an attractive legislative and fiscal framework.”
