By means of this material we would like to inform you that on the 2nd of February 2023, Order 396/2022 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (“Order“) was published in the Official Gazette, approving the “Procedure for the calculation, collection and payment of tax, as well as the declarative obligations established under Article 42 of Law No 17/2014 on certain measures regulating the sale of agricultural land located outside the built-up area” (“Procedure“).
The above-mentioned regulatory act lays down the procedure for calculating and paying the 80% tax on the positive difference between the value of agricultural land at the date of sale and the value at the date of purchase, as regulated by Article 42 of Law No 17/2014.
Therefore, in case of transfer by sale of agricultural land located outside the built-up area within 8 years of purchase, the tax is calculated and collected by the notary public before the sale deed is authenticated. After the tax has been collected, the notary public is obliged to declare this tax as income to the state budget no later than the 25th of the month following the month in which it was collected.
The tax may be paid by the taxpayer either at the notary public’s office, before the notarial deed is authenticated, or through a bank transfer to the account of the notary public’s office, whereby the notary public will mention the tax payment document when authenticating the deed.
Furthermore, the Procedure specifies that the 80% tax will not be charged in case of transfer by sale of agricultural land located outside the built-up area, which has been acquired by inheritance, partition or other such acts of acquisition, except for a sale agreement.
For the situation provided for in Article 42 paragraph (2) of Law No. 17/2014, where the controlling share in a legal entity is transferred within 8 years from the date of acquisition of the land held by the legal entity, the natural and/or legal person transferring the controlling share shall pay 80% tax on the positive difference between the value of the land at the date of transfer of the controlling share and the value at the date of acquisition of the land. These values will be determined according to the indicative value established by the expert’s report drawn up by the Chamber of Notaries Public or the minimum value established by the market survey carried out by the Chambers of Notaries Public, as the case may be.
If the legal person owns several agricultural plots located outside the built-up area, the 80% tax will be applied to the total value of the positive differences of the plots, without taking into account the negative differences of the value of these plots.
In this case, the taxpayer must declare the resulting income no later than 10 days after the date of transfer of ownership of the controlling share.
The tax due shall be declared on the basis of the legal act by which the transfer took place, by filling in the declaration provided for this purpose by the National Tax Administration Agency. The model and content of this declaration is to be approved by an order of the President of ANAF.
The actual payment of the tax due in this case will be made no later than 60 days from the date of communication of the tax decision issued in this regard by the National Tax Administration Agency.
In conclusion, the issuance of this Order regulates the procedure for the calculation and payment of the tax provided for by Law No 17/2014, thus partially removing the legislative blockage regarding the transfer of agricultural land located outside built-up areas within 8 years from the date of acquisition, which should be completely resolved once the Order of the President of ANAF mentioned above will be published.
We hope that the information contained in this notice will be useful to you, while for any further questions or clarifications regarding the procedure, the bnt attorneys in CEE | Romania team remains at your disposal.