Moldova taxes residents on worldwide income and non-residents on Moldova-source income only. Moldova operates a self-assessment system for corporate tax, with the State Tax Service conducting post-filing review.
The Moldovan tax year is the calendar year.
Moldova's headline corporate income tax (CIT) rate is 12%.
The headline personal income tax (PIT) rate is 12%.
The standard VAT/GST (or equivalent consumption tax) rate is 20%.
An individual is Moldovan tax resident based primarily on domicile, or alternatively by physical presence of at least 183 days in Moldova during the fiscal year (the calendar year); double tax treaties may modify this determination in specific cases. A legal entity is resident if organised or managed in Moldova, or if its main place of business is in Moldova - in practice, residency is determined by place of incorporation. Resident legal entities are taxed on worldwide income at a 12% corporate income tax rate (7% for farming enterprises, with a 4% revenue-based simplified regime available for qualifying small businesses not registered for VAT); permanent establishments of non-resident companies and other non-residents are taxed only on Moldova-source income.
A non-Moldovan entity has a Moldova permanent establishment through a fixed place of business or a dependent agent habitually concluding contracts in Moldova on the entity's behalf, following the OECD Model Treaty definition as applied under Moldovan domestic law and any applicable tax treaty.
Moldova has no CFC rules. This is consistent with Moldova's transfer pricing framework, which applies an arm's-length standard to related-party transactions generally rather than an attribution regime reaching into foreign subsidiaries' undistributed profits.
Moldova does not use a debt-to-equity ratio. Instead interest expense is deductible only up to the average weighted interest rate charged by banks to legal entities on comparable loans, varying by loan currency and term (separate limits apply for Moldovan-lei loans versus foreign-currency loans); interest above that benchmark rate is a non-deductible expense for corporate income tax purposes. Interest on a loan used to acquire or build fixed assets must instead be capitalized into the asset's initial fiscal value until the asset is placed in service, and interest tied to investment activity is deductible only up to the income the investment produces.
Moldova does not use an elective check-the-box classification system; entity classification generally follows the entity's actual legal characteristics. As a non-EU member (EU accession candidate), Moldova is not bound by ATAD2 and does not have a comprehensive anti-hybrid regime.
No foreign bank account or foreign financial asset reporting regime exists requiring residents to separately disclose foreign accounts; foreign income is reported through the standard annual tax return.
Moldova does not provide a broad participation exemption for foreign dividends in the European sense; relief from double taxation is available primarily through Moldova's foreign tax credit system.
Moldova has a real foreign tax credit regime available to both individuals and companies for foreign tax paid on foreign-source income also taxed in Moldova, capped at the Moldovan tax otherwise due on that income.
Moldova currently has 50 operational double tax treaties in force, with Moldovan domestic law expressly providing that treaty terms prevail over national provisions except where domestic rates are more favorable to the taxpayer, in which case the domestic rate applies instead. Treaty benefits require the non-resident to present a valid certificate of fiscal residency before payment.