All drivers need to know: free preventive driving courses for some

The authorities have decided to introduce a tax facility in the legislation.

It is designed to encourage drivers to take part in defensive driving courses. Specifically, expenses related to attending such courses may be deducted from the tax. In principle, the drivers targeted by this measure are those who work in private or public companies in our country.

According to the initiators of the measure, it “aims to stimulate the professional development of driving license holders in private or public companies in Romania, in the form of deduction from profit / income tax due to training expenses in the field of defensive driving.”

According to Law 20/2022, the tax facility can be applied as follows:

• if the driver takes the courses on his own money, the expense can be deducted from the income tax he owes;
• if the driver takes the courses on the employer’s money, the expense can be deducted from the profit tax or from the micro tax due as a company.

A useful law

Then, in the case of young people between the ages of 18 and 26, who are continuing their studies and who do not have a job, the deduction will be made from the income tax paid by their parents.

Initially, in the version voted by senators, the project that has now become Law 20/2022 established that certain drivers should even be obliged to participate in defensive driving courses. It was, more precisely, about the drivers of the special intervention cars, respectively those of police, firemen, ambulance, those used for oversized transports, etc.

This obligation is not included in the current form of the law, as it was removed by the specialized committees of the Parliament, before the final vote of the deputies.

The recently introduced measures aim to reduce the number of deaths resulting from road accidents, given that road safety is one of the main factors influencing people’s quality of life.

In order for the measure to be effectively implemented, it is necessary to complete the legal framework so that driving schools and instructors can train drivers for defensive driving.