The Legal Status of the Digital Certificate Used for Submitting Tax Returns Online, in Romania

• Author: Silvia Lucia Cristea
• Profession: Department of Law, Bucharest University of Economic Studies
• Pages: 194-204

The Legal Status of the Digital Certificate Used for Submitting Tax

Returns Online, in Romania

Professor Silvia Lucia CRISTEA

1

Abstract

This article analyses the legal status of the digital certificate in Romania, pre-

senting first the steps a taxpayer has to take to submit online tax returns (section 1), the

need to issue a power of attorney to the taxpayer's empowered person in order to obtain

the electronic certificate (section 2), the importance of studying the legal natu re of the

digital certificate (section 3), why is not to be confused this digital certificate neither

with the administrative fiscal act nor with an act of authority (sections 4 and 5), and

which are the legal characteristics of the digital certificate as a legal act (in the Conclu-

sions section).

Keywords: digital certificate, electronic signature, online tax returns, digital certification

service provider.

JEL Classification: K34

1. Introduction

To submit on-line tax returns in Romania, a taxpayer shall go through the

following stages:

- to empower a physical person through an authenticated power of attor-

ney to represent the taxpayer in front of the competent General Directorate of

Public Finance of the National Agency of the Fiscal Administration, to sign the

tax returns to be submitted to the competent bodies, also by using the online sys-

tem, based on a qualified digital certificate; this stage is not needed if the tax-

payer, a specialist – moral person, has appointed an administrator, who is already

acting as representative, under a general power of attorney, or under the decision

of the general assembly of the respective commercial company;

- the empowered person, administrator or another person, shall obtain a

qualified electronic signature certificate, issued by one authorized certification

services providers; thus, he/she will be able to submit on-line tax returns, in the

name and on behalf of the taxpayer; the signing with electronic signature

2

on the

1

Silvia Lucia Cristea – Departmen t of Law, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, associate

researcher of the Institute for Legal Research of the Romanian Academy, silvia_drept@yahoo.com

2

According to art.5 in Law no 445/2001 regarding the electronic signature, with further

modifications and completions, the electronic signature is assimilated, in terms of conditions and