e-Factura Romania: the e-invoicing rules for your SRL in 2026

e-Factura Romania is the national e-invoicing system, run by the tax authority ANAF. If you own a Romanian SRL, or are setting one up, you must send your invoices to businesses, consumers and public bodies through RO e-Factura within 5 working days. Here is how the mandate works in November 2026, who is exempt, and what it costs to get it wrong.

What RO e-Factura is

RO e-Factura is Romania's national e-invoicing system. It lives inside the Spațiul Privat Virtual (SPV), ANAF's online account for taxpayers. You upload each invoice as an XML file. The system checks it, applies the Ministry of Finance electronic seal and makes it available to your customer.

The legal original is the sealed XML file, not the PDF you email. If the file has errors, the invoice is not considered sent: you get an error message, fix the file and upload it again.

The core law is Emergency Ordinance (OUG) 120/2021, amended many times. The latest major change is Law 88/2026, in force since 1 June 2026.

Who must use it

The mandate covers taxable persons established in Romania. A Romanian SRL always is, even if its owners and director live abroad. The supply must also take place in Romania under the VAT rules. VAT registration does not matter: non-VAT-registered companies are covered too.

If a private customer gives no tax code, you enter 13 zeros instead. Consumers have nothing to do in SPV.

What is outside the system

The main exclusions in the version in force in November 2026:

• cash register receipts that qualify as simplified invoices;
• intra-EU supplies of goods where the customer gives a VAT number from another member state;
• transactions outside the scope of VAT for which the Tax Code requires no invoice;
• suppliers identified for tax purposes by their personal number (CNP), since 1 June 2026.

A foreign company with no fixed establishment in Romania does not have to use RO e-Factura, though it may opt in. Invoices your SRL receives from abroad are recorded as usual. For borderline cases, check with your accountant.

The deadline: 5 working days

Since 1 January 2026 you have 5 working days from the invoice date to upload it. Before that it was 5 calendar days. The same deadline applies to B2C invoices.

There is also a ceiling: no later than 5 working days after the date by which the invoice had to be issued under the Romanian Tax Code. The safest habit is to upload on the day you issue the invoice. That leaves time to fix a rejected file.

The format: XML under EN 16931 and RO_CIUS

The invoice is a structured XML file that follows the European standard EN 16931 and the Romanian rules on top of it, called RO_CIUS. The European standard allows two syntaxes, UBL and CII.

You will not write XML by hand. The Ministry of Finance offers free tools, in Romanian, suited to low volumes. Otherwise, invoicing software generates the file for you. Corrections also go through the system as a corrective invoice: an invoice already delivered cannot be pulled back.

Fines

Penalties are set in article 13^2 of OUG 120/2021. The usual option to pay half the minimum fine within 15 days does not apply to them.

The 15% fine also hits the buyer. Before you book an invoice from a Romanian supplier, check that it is in SPV.

A monthly check is enough: every B2B invoice from a supplier established in Romania should have its sealed XML in SPV, with the same amounts as the PDF. If you pay on delivery and the invoice does not reach the system in time, you can report it to the tax office under the procedure set by ANAF. If you dispute an invoice, tell the supplier, including through a message in RO e-Factura, and wait for the corrective invoice.

SPV, digital certificate and your accountant

To use RO e-Factura, the SRL must be registered in SPV as a legal entity. You need a qualified digital certificate held by someone who represents the company: the director, a designated representative or an authorised person such as your accountant.

XML files and error messages stay downloadable for 60 days after publication. If you run the company from abroad, decide early who uploads invoices, who downloads the incoming ones and whose certificate is used. Our Romanian guide to ANAF SPV walks through registration.

If you are opening the company now

e-Factura starts with your first invoice. Settle before incorporation who will hold the digital certificate and SPV access, and which software you will invoice with. If the company does not exist yet, Start4's guide on opening a company in Romania covers the steps and timing.

Software such as Contar, with its e-Factura ANAF (SPV) module, builds the XML from the invoice you issue and links it to SPV. You stay compliant without having to learn RO_CIUS yourself.

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