OREANDA-NEWS. June 06, 2011. The Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said at the meeting of the Ministry of Economy’s expert council to discuss the new tax and budget policy for 2012 that the rate of the tax on enterprises’ income in the amount of 12% to be introduced starting from 2012 is quite competitive in the regional scale and business is practically ready for it.

However, the 6% taxation of dividends suggested by the Ministry of Finance will have a dramatic impact worsening the investment climate in Moldova. Valeriu Lazar emphasized that the IMF Mission initially was also insisting on the simultaneous introduction of taxes on income and dividends, however later, during discussions at the Ministry of Economy, the IMF denied dividends taxation and this clause is missing in the Memorandum.

It was said at the expert group’s meeting that payment of the income tax quarterly and in advance is an absurd idea as in current unstable conditions business is incapable of projecting its profit accurately and this suggestion is comparable with the idea of paying dividends in advance.