Comparative Analysis of the Notion of Related Enterprise by Reference to the Old and New Legislative Provisions Applicable to Micro-Enterprises

Abstract

From 2022 onwards, a series of legislative changes announced the firm intention of the authorities to significantly reduce the number of micro-enterprises paying income tax. As the conditions for being a microenterprise, published in December 2023, sparked heated disputes, at the end of March 2024, the Ministry of Finance came up with changes to the notion of a related enterprise. The major surprise was that the intention of the regulation demonstrates the retroactivity of the amended conditions, which, in the view of the regulatory act, should apply even for the beginning of 2024, and not only after the publication of the emergency ordinance. In this article we illustrate with examples some differences between the term of related enterprises based on Law No. 346/2004 and the one based on Government Emergency Ordinance No. 31/2024 and we show that the newly introduced conditions cannot be applied retroactively. Also, we underline the importance of defining as soon as possible the notion of indirect holding.

Keywords

• micro-enterprise
• related enterprise
• indirect holding
• retroactive application of the law