In Romania, all the obligations of the taxes and other contributions of the gambling organizers can be found either in the special law – updated GEO 77/2009 – or in the updated Tax Code, as we will present below.
The updated GEO 77/2009 stipulates the following obligations
1. Annual license fee – is established and due, for each type of activity, in a fixed amount, in the range between 5,000 – 120,000 euros/year, which is declared and paid in advance as follows:
- for the first year until the 25th of the month following the month in which the documentation was approved;
- for the next nine years, 10 days before the expiration of the previous year.
2. Annual authorization fee – is established and due, for each type of activity, in a lump sum, starting from a minimum of 1,500 euros/year to a maximum of 180,000 euros/year or as a percentage, representing 16% of estimated income, but may not be below the set minimum limit. In both cases, the tax declaration and payment are made in advance, and in the case of the activities where the income is estimated, the authorization fee is recalculated and regularized monthly, by applying the 16% quota to the actual income realized. The exception is the land-based bingo games, for which the annual authorization fee, calculated and due in advance, has a fixed component of 7,000 euros for each authorized room and a variable one, representing 3% of the nominal value of the printed game tickets.
3. Special taxes:
- Annual fee – is established and due, only for slot machine games with unlimited risk and video games, in the amount of 400 euros/year, for each authorized station;
- The special monthly fee for videotape – established and due in the form of a 3% share of the realized income;
- Daily access fee – is fixed and due, as a fixed amount, by each person entering the specialized locations of casinos, in the amount of 50 lei and of the poker clubs, in the amount of 30 lei.
4. Annual contributions – established and due, in fixed amounts of 1,000 or 5,000 euros/year, by types of activity, to be used for the purpose of preventing gambling addiction.
5. Administrative fees – fixed and due, in a fixed amount, only in the case of remote gambling, for the analysis of documents, in the amount of 2,500 euros and for the issuance of the license, in the amount of 8,500 euros.
The Fiscal Code provides the following obligations
1. Tax on the income of micro-enterprises – mandatory tax for legal persons who: on December 31 of the previous year made incomes below the level of 1,000,000 euros; their social capital is owned by persons other than the state and the administrative-territorial units; it is not in dissolution, followed by liquidation, registered in the trade register or in the courts, according to the law.
The tax rates on the income of micro-enterprises are:
- 1% of revenues for micro-enterprises that have one or more employees;
- 3% from revenues for microenterprises that do not have employees.
2. Profit tax – established and due by those who do not fulfill the conditions for payment of the tax on the income of micro-enterprises and the share of profit tax, which is applied to the taxable profit, is 16%. By way of exception, taxpayers who carry out activities of a casino nature, including legal entities that make these revenues under an association contract, and if the profit tax due for this activity is less than 5% of the respective revenues, are obliged to pay tax rate of 5% applied to these registered incomes.
3. Compulsory income taxes and social contributions – established and due by natural persons, withheld at the source by employers or payers, include:
A) Income taxes
- Tax on salaries and assimilated to them – in a 10% quota applied to the tax base;
- Dividend tax – at a rate of 5% applied to the tax base;
- Income tax on prizes and gambling:
- The tax on the income from prizes and contests – the revenues in the form of prizes are imposed, by withholding at source, with a 10% share applied to the net income realized from each prize. The prizes under the value of the non-taxable amount established in the amount of 600 lei are not taxable, including, realized by the taxpayer for each prize;
- The tax on the income from gambling due is determined at each payment, by applying the following tax scale on each gross income received by a participant, from an organizer or payer of gambling income: up to 66,750, including, with 1 %; over 66,750 – 445,000, including, with 667.5 + 16% for what exceeds 66,750 and over 445,000 with 61,187.5 + 25% for what exceeds 445,000. The income obtained as a result of participating in the gambling characteristic of casinos, poker clubs, slot machines and slots under the non-taxable amount of 66,750 lei, including, realized by the taxpayer for each gross income received, are not taxable.
The verification of the framing in the non-taxable ceiling is made on each payment, regardless of the type of game from which the respective income was obtained.
If the gross income received on each payment exceeds the non-taxable ceiling of 66,750 lei, including, the taxation is made separately from the income obtained from participating in other types of gambling.
B) Compulsory social contributions
- Social insurance contributions due to the state social insurance budget – it is due by the natural persons who have the quality of employees or for whom there is the obligation to pay the social insurance contribution, in a 25% quota applied to the tax base;
- Social health insurance contributions – it is due by the natural persons who have the quality of employees or for whom there is the obligation to pay the social health insurance contribution in a 10% rate applied to the tax base;
- The insurance contribution for work – it is due to the natural and legal persons who have the status of employers or are assimilated to them, in a 2.25% quota applied to the tax base calculated as the sum of the gross gains realized from the salaries and incomes assimilated to the salaries
4. VAT – the operations regarding the activity of bets, lotteries and other forms of gambling performed by the persons authorized, according to the law, to carry out such activities are exempt without the right of deduction.
5. Local taxes and fees – are due and calculated for:
- building tax and building tax;
- land tax and land tax;
- tax on means of transport;
- the fees for issuing certificates, approvals, and authorizations;
- tax for the use of advertising and advertising means;
- show tax;
