NEW TAX REGULATIONS FOR COMPANIES IN OIL AND GAS BUSINESS

Starting with January 1, 2025, entered into force the order of the Ministry of Finances no. 6830/2024, published in the Official Gazette no. 1332 of December 31, 2024, establishing the legal persons acting in the oil and gas fields that owe the specific 0,5% tax on the turnover.

Activities concerned

According to the new regulation, are concerned the Romanian or foreign legal persons delivering goods or providing services in the Romanian territory and carrying out their main or secondary activity in the field of oil and natural gas, based on the following CAEN codes:

• 0610 – Extraction of crude petroleum;
• 0620 – Extraction of natural gas;
• 0910 – Support activities for petroleum and natural gas extraction;
• 1920 – Manufacture of refined petroleum products;
• 3522 – Distribution of gaseous fuels through mains;
• 3523 – Trade of gas through mains;
• 4671 (Caen Rev 2) / 4681 (Caen Rev 3)– Wholesale of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and related products; • 4730 – Retail sale of automotive fuel in specialised stores;
• 4950 – Transport via pipeline.

These categories of activities include a wide range of operations from extraction and refining, to distribution, trade and transportation.

Implications for companies

The turnover subject to the specific tax of 0.5% is calculated as the difference between the total of revenues (namely the amounts accumulated from the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of the calculation period) and the deducted revenues (namely the revenues referred to in art. 46 index 2 of the Fiscal Code, such as: non-taxable income, income related to the costs of stocks of products and services in progress, income from the production of tangible and intangible assets, subsidies, compensation for damage to assets, as well as excise duties included in expenditure accounts). From the resulting value are further subtracted the immobilizations in progress, which represent the purchase or production of assets from 2025, and the accounting depreciation related to these immobilizations.

The specific tax is declared and paid quarterly. Are exempted from this obligation the activities related exclusively to distribution, supply or transport of electricity and natural gas regulated by the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE).

The revenues obtained by non-residents from the above-mentioned transactions are not part of the scope of the double taxation avoidance conventions concluded by Romania with other States.