Snitching on tax dodgers: could citizens earn a percentage of the fraud’s value? Liberal finance minister Boloș encourages the idea

To increase the collection of taxes, Finance Minister Marcel Bolos is considering an incentive for Romanians who are willing to report tax evaders. According to observatornews.ro, Boloș announced that those who denounce tax evaders could receive 1% of the value of the fraud.

„We are thinking of a percentage from the crime and from the counter value of the evasion because it is, after all, the merit of the person who found. If there are more than one person who reports the same offence, we can also think of a proportional incentive system,” said Bollos, quoted by observatornews.ro.

Anonymous tipsters could receive this financial incentive as early as the middle of next year.

Romanians will be able to report online if, for example, an employer makes only part of the wage payment on their payroll, with the rest under the table,  or if a company fails to issue a tax invoice.

To combat tax evasion, which accounts for more than 10% of GDP, or 160 billion lei, the finance ministry is using European funds to digitalize its institutions. Starting January 1, electronic invoices will be mandatory for all companies.

Also with the aim of eliminating tax evasion, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is thinking of dismissing the heads of the Tax Office and Customs, with the intention that the new heads will no longer be appointed along political lines.