ANIS Opinion: The government is jeopardizing the long-term development of the IT industry through tax measures discussed in secret without consulting the industry

ANIS, the Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry, expresses its concern for the way in which the governing Coalition chooses to jeopardize the future of the IT industry and Romania’s asset in this sector at a regional and global level through fiscal measures discussed without consulting industry representatives, with immediate applicability , without respecting any principle of the Fiscal Code.

Taking into account that government representatives have publicly assumed in recent months that the tax changes will not affect the IT industry in any way, given the strong positive contribution to GDP growth and the balance brought by the sector in the trade balance, ANIS draws attention that by continuing the current intentions the decision-makers risk to remove Romania from the regional competitiveness map, with countries such as Bulgaria and especially Poland that will benefit to the maximum in the medium and long term from this unexpected decision.

“The new measures proposed by the current Government put an unprecedented brake on the process of transforming Romania into a regional hub of innovation and digital transformation, with long-term and very long-term repercussions, especially in the absence of other measures to support the development of this strategic industry and constitutes an economic policy error and a big step back in Romania’s economic development”, says Mihai Matei, President of ANIS.

ANIS reiterates the major negative impact that these fiscal measures proposed by the current governing coalition will have in the long term on Romania’s best-performing industry – the IT industry. The taxation of salary income from IT above the threshold of 10,000 gross lei is almost equivalent to the elimination of the facilities as a whole, the measure being applicable to approximately 80% of the number of 104,000 IT specialists who benefited from the exemption, but it will bring a marginal benefit to the budget of maximum 0.4 billion lei annually.

The transversal negative impact on the economy is not at all negligible, as it is known that at this moment every 10 employees in the IT industry support another 10.5 jobs in Romania. On the other hand, these fiscal measures, applicable in an extremely short term – September 2023, will not be able to be absorbed so quickly in the strategies of IT companies active in Romania and will have a strong negative impact especially on local organizations in urban centers such as Cluj Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, alongside Bucharest. The IT industry in Romania has grown 3 times faster than the national average in the last 10 years, this is due both to the investments made by the private sector in the education of specialists, as well as to the tax facilities and long-term stability offered companies of this size.

ANIS has 25 years of activity in Romania. Established in 1998, ANIS represents the interests of Romanian IT companies and supports the development of the local software and services industry, the growth of both companies involved in outsourcing projects and those that generate intellectual property, through the creation of products. Over 170 members. Within ANIS are represented both companies with Romanian or foreign capital, small or multinational, with headquarters in all the major IT centers in the country, which ensures the association representativeness at the national level. ANIS members generate a significant number of highly qualified jobs in society. With a representation of over 65% of the total revenues generated by the IT industry at the national level and approximately 42% of the total IT industry employees in Romania, ANIS is increasing its economic footprint at the local level year by year. For more information, visit the Association’s page – www.anis.ro.