Moldova IT Park: 7% Single Tax Explained

TL;DR:

Moldova IT Park (MITP) replaces CIT, payroll income tax, social and medical contributions, and several local taxes with a single 7% tax on turnover, plus a per-employee floor.

Periodic filings and the annual eligibility check are the mechanism that maintains the regime year after year.

Real substance, with headcount and qualifying activity, is what protects the position under SFS review.

The Moldova IT Park (MITP) regime taxes qualifying IT firms at a flat 7% of turnover, replacing corporate income tax, employee personal income tax, social security and medical insurance contributions, local taxes, real estate tax, and road tax in a single charge under Law 77/2016. VAT is separate and applies normally. A monthly per-employee floor of around MDL 5,220 insets the minimum tax payable per full-time employee. To qualify, at least 70% of revenue must come from the IT activities listed in Law 77/2016. The regime is guaranteed in statute throughand operationally through 2037. This guide explains who qualifies, how the SFS filings work month to month, and how residency is maintained year on year.

Key takeaways

Point · Details

Single 7% tax · The MITP regime collapses CIT, payroll income tax, social and medical contributions, and several local taxes into a single 7% turnover figure.
Filings are the discipline · Periodic filings and the annual eligibility check are what keep the regime in force.
Substance is required · Local headcount, qualifying activity, and clean revenue documentation are non-negotiable.
Stable to 2035 · The regime carries a state guarantee through 2035, with operational term to 2037.
Practical compliance · Monthly tracking and disciplined activity coding make the year-end check straightforward.

Why MITP attracts IT companies

Moldova is not the first jurisdiction most international IT founders consider. That picture is changing, and the reason is structural: MITP consolidates almost every tax obligation a software company faces into a single, predictable payment.

The 7% MITP tax replaces standard CIT (12% on profit), employee personal income tax (12%), employer and employee social contributions, medical insurance contributions, real estate tax, road tax, and several local taxes. VAT continues to apply separately under the standard rules. There is also a per-employee floor: the MITP tax cannot fall below approximately MDL 5,220 per month for 2026 for each employee who worked at least one day in the period under an employment contract. The floor is the binding constraint at low turnover; the 7% headline dominates at scale.

To put the rate in regional context:

Jurisdiction · Headline corporate burden · Payroll / social load

Moldova (MITP) · 7% on turnover (per-employee floor) · Included in the unified tax
Romania · 16% on profit (1% / 3% micro under thresholds) · Separate payroll taxes apply
Germany · Around 30% effective on profit · Around 20% employer-side contributions
Estonia · 0% retained / 22% on distribution · Standard social tax applies

Beyond the rate, structural simplicity is what compounds. Finance teams spend much less time managing layered filings, and the cost of compliance itself drops. The regime is state-guaranteed through 2035, with an operational term to 2037, which gives planning horizons few comparable jurisdictions match.

The scale of MITP tells its own story. The park hosts roughly 1,800 resident companies and around 21,000 IT specialists, and crossed USD 1 billion in turnover in 2025, with the majority of revenue exported. That is a functioning ecosystem, not a paper construct.

Key advantages that draw IT companies:

Single unified tax covering most fiscal obligations.
State guarantee through 2035, giving rare long-term planning certainty.
SEPA-driven euro payments since 6 October 2025, reducing friction on EU-bound flows.
Cost base materially below Western and Central European hubs.
Remote registration through ASP under a power of attorney notarised and apostilled in the country of residence.

For wider context see why IT companies are turning to Moldova and the low corporate tax in Europe overview.

Eligibility for MITP

Accessing the 7% rate is not automatic. MITP has a defined entry set, and maintaining it continuously is what keeps the company inside the regime.

Criterion · Requirement

Legal form · Moldovan SRL or SA
Revenue mix · At least 70% from qualifying IT activities listed in Law 77/2016
Substance · Real headcount; per-employee floor of approximately MDL 5,220/month for 2026
Activity codes · Aligned with MITP-approved categories under Law 77/2016
Solvency · No insolvency or active enforcement
Compliance · Periodic returns and the annual eligibility check met every year

The qualifying activity list under Law 77/2016 covers software development, IT consulting, IT outsourcing, data processing and hosting, web portal activities, and a defined set of adjacent IT and digital activities. Activities outside the list count towards the 30% non-IT bucket and need to be tracked carefully.

To become MITP-eligible:

Register a Moldovan SRL with activity codes aligned to qualifying IT services.
Apply for MITP residency to Moldova IT Park after ASP registration.
Build out the team that meets the substance floor for the periods you intend to operate.
Set up monthly revenue tracking, segmented by activity category.
Manage the annual compliance cycle, including the eligibility check.

The qualifying revenue tolerance is worth noting. A short non-IT spike can be absorbed; sustained drift below 70% puts the residency at risk and forces reversion to standard tax treatment for the affected periods.

Pro tip: build the revenue tracking system before applying for MITP residency. Knowing the breakdown by activity category in real time makes filings faster and the year-end check far less stressful. It is far simpler to implement at the start than to retrofit later.

Why filings are central to maintaining the regime

The 7% rate is not a passive entitlement. It is actively maintained through periodic filings that demonstrate ongoing eligibility. Each filing acts as a formal declaration of turnover and revenue composition, and these filings are the mechanism by which SFS confirms the regime applies. A missed filing, an incorrect figure, or a sustained drift in the revenue mix without documentation exposes the company to back assessments at standard rates.

Practical compliance pillars:

Periodic turnover filings on time, with accurate revenue categorisation by activity.
Annual eligibility check confirming the 70% qualifying revenue threshold.
Payroll documentation for all local employees, evidencing the per-employee floor.
Activity code alignment ensuring all services billed match MITP-approved categories.
Revenue ledger maintained at sufficient detail to support sampling on review.

Pro tip: treat the annual eligibility check as a real quality check, not a box-ticking exercise. Issues surfaced before the period closes can be remedied; issues found later become assessments. Periodic filings prove the turnover base for the 7% calculation, while the annual check verifies the qualifying activity threshold. Together, they let high-margin IT firms achieve effective tax positions well below EU norms with genuinely simplified mechanics.

A working illustration: an MITP resident at €1 million annual turnover pays approximately €70,000 in total tax under the unified regime, against €160,000 or more for an equivalent EU corporate structure once payroll taxes are layered in. The simplicity is the saving as much as the rate is.

Practical steps to expand to Moldova

Eligibility and mechanics are useful; the actual sequence is what makes expansion happen.

Register a Moldovan SRL with activity codes aligned to the IT service lines (registration runs through ASP under a power of attorney where the founder is not on the ground).
Apply for MITP residency immediately after ASP registration, with documentation evidencing the qualifying activity profile.
Build the team that meets the per-employee floor for the periods of operation.
Implement monthly revenue tracking from day one, segmented by activity category.
Engage a local accountant or advisor for periodic filings and quarterly reviews.
Manage the annual compliance cycle including the eligibility check.
Review activity code coverage as the service offering evolves, especially when adding new product lines.

Remote registration is fully supported. The founder acts under a power of attorney notarised and apostilled in their country of residence; supporting documents are accepted as scans or as physical copies, whichever the client prefers. Substance, however, is non-negotiable: real employees, real activity, and clear documentation.

The MITP regime is confirmed stable through 2035 with operational term to 2037. That certainty is genuine, but it comes with the expectation that companies show real operations: actual employees, qualifying IT activities, and documented revenue flows. Anti-abuse provisions are in place and applied to companies that register without meaningful operational presence.

Pro tip: keep separate ledger categories for IT and non-IT revenue from the first invoice. Retroactively recategorising income under audit pressure is both time-consuming and unconvincing. Clean records from the start are the strongest asset in any review.

For the entity-level decisions see the legal entity structuring guide, and for the cross-border setup see the non-resident formation walkthrough. The full registration cycle is covered in the company formation guide.

The substance reality

Most coverage of MITP focuses exclusively on the 7% headline rate. That is understandable; it is an exceptional number. The founders who extract the most value over the long term are those who treat compliance as a strategic function rather than a back-office task.

A meaningful number of companies join MITP with a superficial setup: a registered address, a handful of nominal employees, and revenue categorisation that would not survive a thorough review. These companies enjoy the rate while the setup holds, but they are accumulating risk rather than value.

Periodic filings and the annual eligibility check are not administrative burden. They are the mechanism that validates the tax position year after year. Companies that treat them as such build a compliance record that withstands scrutiny, including the international scrutiny that intensifies as Moldova advances through EU accession (candidate status since 22 June 2022, negotiations opened 25 June 2024, screening completed 22 September 2025).

The regime's stability through 2035 is good news. It does not protect companies whose tax position rests on weak substance. Forward-looking compliance also builds credibility with international clients and partners who increasingly ask tax and substance questions during procurement and due diligence. A clean MITP record, backed by genuine operations, is a commercial asset.

Working with us

If MITP fits the business model, the next move is getting the setup right from the start. We guide IT founders and managers through every stage of the Moldova expansion: ASP registration, MITP application, hiring and payroll setup, periodic filings, and the annual eligibility check. See the setup IT company service, the formation checklist, and the company formation overview. For banking, see bank account opening.

Frequently asked questions

What does the 7% MITP tax replace?

CIT, employee personal income tax, employer and employee social contributions, medical insurance contributions, several local taxes, real estate tax, and road tax. VAT applies separately under the standard rules.

Can a foreign company access MITP without local employees?

No. A Moldovan-registered SRL or SA and real substance, with the per-employee floor met (approximately MDL 5,220 per month per employee for 2026), are both required.

How often do MITP filings happen?

Periodically, with monthly turnover filings and an annual compliance cycle that confirms the 70% qualifying activity threshold.

How long is the MITP regime in force?

State-guaranteed through 2035, with operational term to 2037.

What happens if qualifying revenue drops below 70%?

There is a tolerance window for short dips. Sustained drift below the threshold puts MITP residency at risk and can trigger reversion to standard tax treatment for the affected periods, with potential reassessment.

Moldova IT tax benefits: the 7% MITP regime and filing