Moldova is a country in Eastern Europe. Its official name is the Republic of Moldova (Romanian: Republica Moldova). It is bounded to the west by Romania and to the north, east, and south by Ukraine. Transnistria, an unrecognized breakaway entity, sits across the Dniester on the country's eastern border with Ukraine. Chișinău is Moldova's capital and biggest city.
From the 14th century until 1812, the majority of Moldovan land was part of the Principality of Moldavia, which was surrendered to the Russian Empire by the Ottoman Empire (of which Moldavia was a tributary state) and became known as Bessarabia. Southern Bessarabia was returned to Moldavia in 1856, and three years later it merged with Wallachia to become Romania, but Russian sovereignty was reestablished over the whole province in 1878. Bessarabia temporarily became an independent state inside the Russian Republic during the 1917 Russian Revolution, known as the Moldavian Democratic Republic. The Moldavian Democratic Republic proclaimed independence in February 1918, and later that year, its congress voted to merge it into Romania. The decision was contested by Soviet Russia, which formed a Moldavian autonomous republic (MASSR) inside the Ukrainian SSR in 1924 on largely Moldovan-inhabited regions to the east of Bessarabia.
As a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania was forced to hand over Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union in 1940, resulting in the establishment of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian SSR), which included the majority of Bessarabia and the westernmost strip of the former MASSR (east of the Dniester River). On August 27, 1991, while the Soviet Union was disintegrating, the Moldavian SSR proclaimed independence and adopted the name Moldova. Moldova's constitution was enacted in 1994. Since 1990, a stretch of Moldovan territory on the Dniester's east bank has been de facto controlled by Transnistria's breakaway government.
Because of a drop in industrial and agricultural production after the fall of the Soviet Union, the service sector has risen to dominate Moldova's economy, accounting for more than 60% of the country's GDP. It is Europe's poorest nation in terms of GDP per capita, behind only Ukraine. Moldova has the continent's lowest Human Development Index, ranking 90th in the world.
Moldova is a parliamentary republic led by a president who serves as head of state and a prime minister who serves as head of government. It is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC), and the Association Trio.
Employees typically receive 28 days of paid vacation each year.
New Year’s Day
Orthodox Christmas
International Women’s Day
Orthodox Easter Monday
Easter of the Blajini
Labor Day
Victory and Commemoration Day
Children’s Day
Independence Day
National Language Day
Roman Catholic Christmas
In Moldova, employees are not entitled to a specific amount of sick days. A proper medical certificate must be provided to the employer by the employee. During the first five days of sick leave, the company compensates the employee, and from the sixth day on, a social security payment is provided.
An expectant mother is entitled to 70 days of leave before her due date (112 days if she is expecting three or more children) and 56 days following the birth of her kid (70 days if she gives birth to two or more children). Following maternity leave, any parent or another relative caring for the kid is eligible to a partially paid childcare leave until the kid reaches the age of three. The adult who is caring for the kid must fill out a formal application for this leave and is usually qualified for a social security reimbursement. Upon written request to the employer, another year of unpaid leave is permitted until the kid becomes four years old.
When his child is born, the father is entitled to 14 days of paternity leave. Within 56 days of the birth, he can request leave and produce a copy of the birth certificate. The father may be eligible for a social security payment while on paternity leave, which must be at least as high as his average earnings for the period he is on leave. Employers must encourage dads to take paternity leave, and they must not penalize or make it difficult for them to do so.
Employers are only permitted to fire employees for legally authorized grounds. Acceptable reasons are typically related to the employer's economic condition or to the employee's failure to execute their job or their behavior. A probationary employee may be terminated at any moment and is not entitled to severance pay.
In other circumstances, the employer must offer two months' notice if the employee is being terminated due to the liquidation or reduction of the business's workforce, and one month's notice if the employee is being terminated for the majority of performance reasons. If the employee is being terminated for grave misconduct, no notice is necessary. If an employer wishes to terminate an employee who is a member of a union, the business must first negotiate with the union. Within ten days of the consultation, the union must indicate its agreement or disagreement.
Employees may resign from their jobs by providing their employer with 14 days written notice. Employees who retire on pension, take childcare leave, enroll in an educational institution, relocate, or resign for other legally recognized reasons may resign with a shorter notice time.
Contracts with a fixed period typically expire at the end of the term. If the work relationship persists beyond the contract's expiration date without either the employer or the employee ending the relationship, the contract is automatically transformed to an indefinite-term contract.
Employees receive severance pay equal to one average week's wage for each year worked if the firm liquidates or closes.
A notice period of two months is only applicable in certain circumstances.
Probationary periods of up to 3 months, and six months for officials, are allowed and may not be renewed according to Labor Laws in Moldova.
The severance payment is tantamount to one average week's worth of wages for every year of service by the terminated employee.
The workweek is normally 40 hours long and consists of five days, although an employer may opt for a six-day workweek if it is more appropriate for the employer's business.
Younger workers have fewer hours available to them. Employees aged 15 or 16 may work a maximum of 24 hours per week, while those aged 16 to 18 may work a maximum of 35 hours per week. Additionally, workers who work in hazardous conditions recognized by the government are limited to 35 hours per week.
The typical workday is eight hours for adults, seven hours for employees aged sixteen to eighteen or who work in hazardous conditions, and five hours for employees under the age of sixteen. A workday may not exceed ten hours, but collective bargaining agreements may establish 12-hour days that must be followed by a minimum of twenty-four hours of rest. Workers with disabilities may work a limited number of hours if their doctor recommends it.
Shifts at night (from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) are one hour shorter than daytime shifts for employees who normally work full time during the day. This is not required of employees who work fewer hours during the day or who work exclusively at night. Employees who work 120 or more hours at night in a six-month period must undergo an employer-paid medical examination. Certain employees are prohibited from working at night.
Overtime work is limited to 120 hours per year, though this limit may be increased to 240 hours in certain circumstances by a collective bargaining agreement. Employers may require overtime without the employee's consent in certain emergency situations, but the employee must consent to overtime in other urgent situations, and both the employee and employee representatives must consent in non-urgent situations. Employees under the age of 18, pregnant women, and those deemed unfit to work overtime by their doctors are not permitted to work overtime.
Workers with severe disabilities who are the parent or guardian of a child under the age of four or a disabled child, are on childcare leave, or are caring for a sick family member may work overtime only with the employer's written consent after being advised of their right to refuse overtime work. Overtime is compensated at 150 percent of the employee's standard hourly rate for the first two hours, and at 200 percent for additional hours. Work performed on holidays or on an employee's day off is compensated at double the employee's regular rate, or the employee may elect to receive their regular rate of pay and an unpaid day off on a day they would normally work.
The minimum salary in Moldova varies depending on the kind of employment. Employees in the private sector get 1,900 Moldovan lei a month, while those in the public sector should earn at least 1,000 lei.
Although the state health insurance covers basic care and emergency care, many treatments must be paid for out of cash.
Mandatory benefits postulated by law include a probationary period, pay on annual leaves, public holidays, sick leaves, maternity leave, paternity leave, and overtime pay. Statutory benefits also include social security benefits.
The corporate income tax rate is set at 12%. If the Moldovan Tax Authority (MTA) reassesses the income amount relative to the reported gross income using indirect techniques, a 15% rate may be imposed on the excess amount.
Individual entrepreneurs are taxed at a rate of 12% on their entire revenue. Farming businesses are taxed at a rate of 7%. Small and medium-sized businesses that are not registered as VAT payers and meet certain requirements may choose a special tax regime of 4% on their aggregated revenue calculated for accounting reasons, with the exception of certain kinds of income (e.g. subsidies, dividends, exchange rate differences).
Moldovan residents (both Moldovan nationals and foreigners) are taxed on income received during the fiscal term from any source inside the Republic of Moldova, as well as money obtained from sources outside the country for job activity conducted successfully in the Republic of Moldova (except income that is expressly tax exempt under the Moldovan law).
Moldovan nationals who receive investment and financial income from sources outside Moldova are liable to Moldovan taxation on this income.
At the same time, persons who qualify as non-residents for Moldovan personal income tax reasons must pay Moldovan tax on income earned in Moldova (e.g. income received from property located in Moldova, remuneration for activity performed in Moldova, interest and royalties received from Moldovan legal entities).
Residents are taxed at a normal rate of 12 percent, with the exception of income from agricultural businesses, which is taxed at a lower rate of 7 percent. Non-residents are subject to a tax rate ranging from 6% to 15%.
In Moldova, the normal VAT rate is presently 20%. It is often used for local supply of goods and services, as well as imports of products and services through a reverse-charge mechanism.
Aside from the above, some kinds of supplies are entitled to lower VAT rates. Local supplies of bread and bakery products, milk and dairy products, natural gas transportation and distribution services, biofuels used for electricity, heating, and hot water production, and specific phytotechnical, horticultural, and zootechnical products, for example, are subject to the reduced 8 percent VAT rate.
Moldova offers a wide range of visa alternatives to all travelers. When applying for a Moldova visa, the kinds of visas available will vary depending on the length of your stay, the purpose of your visit, and your nationality. The Republic of Moldova's government provides some assistance to citizens of certain nations; with the proper travel papers, you may also visit Moldova.
Without a valid passport, the Moldova visa will not be issued. The visa will be added to your passport, ensuring your stay in Moldova. It will include all of the necessary information, such as your name and nationality, to guarantee safe travel in Moldova.
According to Moldova visa rules, people traveling to Moldova for tourism reasons will be issued a tourist visa. This is also the correct visa to apply for if you want to visit friends or family members in Moldova.
Travelers visiting Moldova are not permitted to participate in commercial or labor activities during their stay, according to Moldova visa policy requirements. Anyone wishing to work in Moldova must apply for a temporary residency visa.
To apply for a work visa, also known as a temporary residency visa, you must have a comprehensive employment offer from Moldova. The job posting must be for the Moldovan government or a Moldovan-based organization. To successfully get a work visa for Moldova, you will need to have the appropriate educational credentials as well as evidence of work experience. All official papers that are to be presented must first be translated into Romanian.
Employment contracts must be in written and signed in triplicate, with each party getting one signed copy. Before starting work, the employee must provide the employer with an identity card or other document establishing their identity, their official labor book, military registration documents (where applicable), documentation of education and/or other documents establishing the employee's qualifications or skills, a medical examination report (where required), and a declaration of personal responsibility in which the new employee states that, while holding previous jobs, they Other than these papers, the employer is not permitted to request.
Employment contracts are either indefinite or fixed-term, with a maximum tenure of five years. Fixed-term contracts are only permitted when there is a legally recognized reason for them, though there are many acceptable reasons in practice, including filling in for a temporarily absent employee, performing work that will be completed over a specific period of time, and employing creative workers in artistic fields.
Moldovan Leu
Before you begin the process of establishing a Moldova subsidiary, you should consider where your firm intends to operate and what sort of entity would be best for your business objectives. Before acquiring a building or accepting a lease, we suggest doing thorough research on all prospective corporate sites. Cities or areas in Moldova may function like states, with their own laws, availability, prices, and so on. Working with an expert to determine the optimum place for an expansion might help you get started sooner.
You must also choose a structure for your Moldova subsidiary. Your entity will specify what acts you are and are not permitted to do in Moldova. A limited liability corporation (LLC), for example, will provide you the maximum flexibility, but a representative office would limit the kind of commercial activities you may do. An LLC, a joint stock corporation, and a representative office are all viable subsidiary structures.
The following are the stages to forming an LLC:
1. All papers must be deposited with the State Registration Chamber.
2. Obtaining a one-of-a-kind state identification number
3. Opening a local bank account and depositing funds
4. Obtaining a registration certificate and performing the constituent act
5. Obtaining the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication's official stamp
6. Getting hold of statistical codes
7. Obtaining a bank certificate and submitting it to the Registrar
8. Purchasing a corporate stamp
9. Registration with the Tax Inspectorate, the Social Security Fund, and the 10. National Medical Insurance Company
Every entity, even an LLC, is subject to its own Moldova subsidiary laws, which must be followed. LLCs need at least 5,400 MDL in share capital, with at least 40% of that amount contributed upon registration. The remaining 60% must be paid within six months after incorporation. LLCs must also have no more than 50 shareholders, as well as at least one designated management and one administrator chosen by the General Meeting of Shareholders.
Because your LLC is a locally established company, you must also pay taxes. Every LLC is required to submit audited financial accounts to the Moldovan commercial register on an annual basis.
