OREANDA-NEWS. July 06, 2011. The Parliament passed amendments to the Criminal Code, stipulating its supplement by the “Tax Evasion by Individuals” article. According to it, individuals that don’t run business activity are to be punished for evading taxes by non-presenting income tax statements or by including corrupted data on incomes or expenses, expenses that aren’t based on actual operations pr by hiding other taxable sources of income, if the amount subject to payment exceeds 2,500 c.u.

Punishment as a fine in the amount of 1,000-2,000 c.u., unpaid labor for 180-240 hours or imprisonment of up to two years may be prescribed for these actions. The same action that led to non-payment of the tax of a very big amount is to be punished by a 2,000-3,000 c.u. fine or jail of up to 5 years. The legislation currently in force in Moldova enables to institute criminal proceedings for tax evasion only against people engaged in business activity.

The director of the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption Viorel Chetraru said the amendments will create concrete mechanisms for preventing and combating extraordinary enrichment of individuals. It will result in the increase of national public budget tax receipts and will have a positive impact on society as a whole.