Lump-sum tax to bankrupt small real estate agencies

An draft Emergency Ordinance for budget rectification includes a tax hike for small enterprises, to 3 percent of revenues, from the current 2.5 percent. Furthermore, as of May 1, these are to pay a lump-sum tax worth at least RON 4,333 (€1,022) regardless of their profits or losses. For 2010, the annual lump-sum tax is to amount to RON 6,500 (€1,533), the draft indicates. “A small real estate agency should have at least RON 216,000 (€50,950) worth of turnover annually, for which a 3 percent tax could amount to RON 6,500. In normal market conditions, an agency has annual business worth RON 50,000-100,000 (€11,800-23,590), but these figures have dropped sharply of late,” according to the spokesman of the Association of Romanian Real Estate Agencies, Ion Radu Zilisteanu. The lump-sum tax is likely to force many of the small companies into bankruptcy. Of the total 10,000 agencies operating on the market last summer, some 4,000-5,000 have already ceased activities due to the financial crisis. For the General Manager of Casa Voastra agency, this is a good thing. “Many created a negative image of the field. There is going to be a clean-up. I do not believe we will be affected by this measure, because we were already paying taxes equivalent to those currently planned,” he added.