SME Romania warns: ”Increasing the share capital of LLCs to 8,000 lei will block entrepreneurship”

The National Council of Small and Medium-sized Private Enterprises in Romania (IMM Romania) states, in a position statement published yesterday on the website of the employers' confederation, that the Ministry of Finance's plan in Package 2 of the tax reform, which proposes increasing the share capital for limited liability companies (SRLs) from 1 leu to 8,000 lei upon establishment, risks blocking access to entrepreneurship in Romania and directly hitting micro-enterprises and start-ups.

According to the cited source, the measure announced by Alexandru Nazare, Minister of Finance, contradicts the European and national principles of supporting the business environment, which aim to simplify procedures and reduce the costs of setting up a company.

Entrepreneurs' representatives believe that increasing the share capital to 8,000 lei would turn starting a business into an option accessible only to those with significant financial resources, causing the deregistration of a large number of companies and causing a blockage at the National Trade Registry Office through the bureaucratic procedures necessary to update the statutes of economic agents. The cited source shows that the negative trend is already visible, as ONRC data shows that in 2024 124,898 companies were established, compared to 146,297 in 2023, and in the period January 1 - April 30, 2025 only 44,867 registrations were recorded, down by 8.83% compared to the same period in 2024.

IMM Romania emphasizes that the patrimonial liability of an SRL is linked to its assets and not to the value of the share capital, which can be spent immediately, which means that this change does not bring real economic benefits. Therefore, after the increase in taxes and duties imposed on the private sector through Package 1 of the fiscal reform, IMM Romania believes that Package 2 should focus on administrative reform, reducing budget expenditures and concrete support measures for entrepreneurs, not on imposing new barriers.

As an alternative, the employers' confederation of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs proposes a gradual system for the SRL share capital: maintaining the amount of 1 lei upon establishment to stimulate young entrepreneurs, increasing it to 5,000 lei once a turnover of 300,000 lei per year is reached and increasing it to 8,000 lei only after exceeding the threshold of 500,000 lei per year. IMM Romania believes that this will allow a dynamic, attractive and accessible business environment to be maintained, which does not discourage private initiative.