On June 16 AmCham was pleased to welcome ANAF President Mirela Călugăreanu for an in-person meeting with members focused on the digitalization of the fiscal administration.

President Călugăreanu presented the ANAF reform priorities in the context of the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience.

The major objective of consolidating the fiscal-financial system and increasing the capacity to collect the budgetary revenues is to be achieved through interventions under three main pillars:

• Improved capacity for a massive and intelligent use of data/information
• Providing new services for taxpayers and ensuring online support for all such services
• The digital transformation of the public financing information system to accelerate its capacity to integrate the current and future digital challenges, intensified by the pandemic context

Regarding the digitalization objectives, 60 ANAF and customs digitalization projects are included in PNRR and are to be discussed in detail with the main stakeholders, private sector included. 16 such projects are already launched for implementation and all projects are planned for completion by end 2025. An important share of the envisaged projects will be outsourced to the private sector in line with the applicable legislation.

Among the benefits to be generated by this digital transformation process highlighted by the ANAF President:

• 5% decrease of the VAT gap
• 3% of GDP increase in budgetary revenues
• All ANAF forms in use – 121 according to an inventory - will be digitalized
•  Integrated risk analysis to combine the current separate assessments performed by customs, anti-fraud, fiscal inspection, VAT reimbursement, payment rescheduling, etc.

Acknowledging that the hardest part of the fiscal administration digitalization begins with the implementation phase, President Călugăreanu concluded by assuring the participants that ANAF aims to be a partner for the taxpayers, leaving behind any aggressive approach.

AmCham President Ionuț Simion opened the event with a brief presentation of  AmCham Romania’s priorities for the Digital Transformation, as identified and elaborated by AmCham’s Digital Economy Committee. He pointed to the need to entrust a single authority with the responsibility, decision-making power and financing needed to efficiently coordinate and implement the digital transformation of the public administration. A strong focus on the need to develop the digital skills of public administration employees and on a real simplification of processes and procedures are lead AmCham priorities as well.

AmCham Romania Board Members Alina Orban, Dorin Pena and Roberto Musneci also joined the AmCham members for this event.

As digital transformation in the public administration and the ANAF reform and digital transformation are leading priorities for AmCham, we will seek to continue dialogue and opportunities for members to exchange views with the ANAF leadership going forward.

The June 16th event was initiated by the AmCham Taxation Committee.