In September 2016, the Moldovan government adopted a new regulation, which gave the possibility for CSOs and religious groups to receive support from Moldovan taxpayers.
2017 was the first year in Moldova when individual taxpayers had the right to designate 2% of their income tax to a noncommercial organization.The adoption of the regulation made Moldova the first country in the Eastern Partnership region to adopt the percentage designation model and that is why its implementation is of great interest.
ECNL has been supporting the process since its start by providing technical assistance in drafting the legal framework, developing comparative case studies on European good practices of promoting the mechanism, supporting research and organizing conferences and study visits for state officials and CSOs. The Legal Resources Center of Moldova (LRCM), with support from ECNL under the Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society (MPSCS) implemented in partnership with FHI 360, carried out an assessment of the implementation of the mechanism in its first year.
Some of the key data from the assessment report:
- A total of 484 noncommercial organizations registered in the List of 2% Beneficiaries with the Ministry of Justice.
- Out of them, 62% received percentage designations.
- More than 21 000 taxpayers designated their 2 % (which is around 11 % of all taxpayers).
- The total amount designated by taxpayers amounted to cca. 245,000 USD.
- For 2018 there is still no exact information about the exact amount of designations but it seems there is an increase in the use of the mechanism with 23% more organizations having registered and 38% more tax payers having allocated money than in the previous year.
Statistics show that although the percentage designation mechanism has a high potential, it is not enough to ensure CSOs’ financial sustainability. The assessment report therefore concludes with some recommendation for CSOs and state authorities for improving the mechanism. You can find the complete assessment in English and in Romanian:
And for the report in Romanian:
One Year of Implementation of the 2% Mechanism in Moldova (Romanian)