- A legislative initiative has been approved in Parliament to provide tax benefits for businesses that donate products nearing expiration or not meeting store standards.
- The vice-president of the parliamentary commission for environment, climate, and transition, Mariana Cușnir, explained that businesses currently write off such products as losses to recoup their VAT and income tax losses. The proposed provision aims to offer tax deductions for income and VAT on donated foods, even those with zero market value, to encourage businesses to donate rather than discard food nearing expiration.
- Currently, few businesses donate food out of social responsibility, such as a vegetable grower who donated tons of onions that had started to sprout. In 2023, food waste and losses in the Republic of Moldova amounted to 19.2 billion lei, with approximately 12 billion lei as the cost of food waste. Expert Veaceslav Ioniță stated that a person throws away approximately 76 kg of food each year, and 5.2% of Moldovans’ monthly expenses are on food.
- This will be applicable as of Jan 1 2025
Source Radio Moldova
