New provisions regarding the exemption from tax on income for IT employees will come into force starting with the income corresponding to the month of January 2023. More specifically, a new occupation appears in the list of occupations covered by the income tax exemption. At the same time, the Order adjusts some aspects related to the supporting documents that must be taken into account when classifying persons exempt from income tax.

According to the Order no. 21813/6421/2246/4433/2022 regarding employment in the activity of creating computer programs, published in the Official Gazette, Part I no. 1252 of December 23, 2022, the old rules of the income tax exemption for IT professionals will be replaced and new provisions and clarifications will be introduced.

The normative act applies starting with the income related to the month of January 2023, replacing the old rules of the income tax exemption for IT professionals and introducing new provisions and clarifications.

First of all, a new occupation appears in the list of occupations covered by the income tax exemption: software development engineer. According to the related description, it is about activities of analysis and assessment of requirements for existing or new IT applications and for operating systems: design, development, testing and maintenance of software solutions to satisfy these requirements.

At the same time, the Order adjusts some aspects related to the supporting documents that must be taken into account when classifying persons exempt from income tax, by referring to the occupations covered by the order. Thus, they are (the news are precisely specified where appropriate):

a) the constitutive act, in the case of economic operators;

b) organization chart of the employer;

c) job description;

d) the copy with the mention “in accordance with the original” of the diploma awarded after the completion of studies in long/short-term university education, respectively the copy with the mention “in accordance with the original” of the diploma awarded after the completion of the first cycle of undergraduate university studies, respectively the copy with the mention “in accordance with the original” of the diploma equivalency or recognition document, issued by the specialized structures of the Ministry of Education, for natural person employees (new: the legalized copy of the diploma equivalency or recognition certificate is replaced by the copy conforming to the original of the document of equivalence or recognition of the diploma);

f) the copy with the mention “in accordance with the original” of the baccalaureate diploma, respectively the copy with the mention “in accordance with the original” of the certificate of equivalency or recognition of the diploma, issued by the specialized structures of the Ministry of Education, including for employees attending the courses of an institution of accredited higher education (new: replacing the legalized copy of the certificate of equivalency or recognition of the diploma with a copy that conforms to the original);

g) certificate attesting to the fact that the person is following a form of higher education, if the employee holds a baccalaureate degree, and the equivalency or recognition document, if applicable, but has not completed short-term university studies or university studies of long-term or first cycle of undergraduate studies. The certificate will specify the following: the university, the normative act by which the university was accredited, the faculty, the study program, the form of education, including the year of studies followed on the date of the request, the school situation, so as to prove the quality of a student, according to the legal provisions in force (new: the special mentions regarding the content of the certificate);

h) if the employee holds a baccalaureate diploma and the equivalency or recognition document, if applicable, but has not completed short-term university studies or long-term university studies or the first cycle of undergraduate studies, upon completion with a diploma of courses of an accredited higher education institution, the employer will request the copy marked “in accordance with the original” of the diploma supplement, in order to exclude periods of interruption of schooling from the granting of exemption from the payment of the tax, if these interruptions were not declared by the beneficiary of the exemption (the provisions are newly introduced);

i) the copy marked “in accordance with the original” of the individual employment contract/administrative act of the head of the public institution on the basis of which the service report/employment report is exercised (new: specification regarding the administrative act);

j) the payroll drawn up separately for employees who benefit from the income tax exemption;

k) the internal order, approved by the authorized management body of the employer, which certifies the request to initiate the process of creating computer programs;

l) the analytical balance in which the revenues from the activity of creating computer programs are reflected separately.

Also as a novelty, the Order specifies the fact that, in the case of income from wages and wages assimilated to the development of computer program creation activities on the territory of Romania, on the basis of a secondment act, the exemption is granted in the situation where the employees and the income payer meets the conditions provided by the Order.