Romania VAT rate 2026: 21% and 11%, threshold and VAT returns

The Romania VAT rate in 2026 is 21% standard and 11% reduced, both in force since 1 August 2025. The small-business exemption threshold is 395,000 lei a year. If you run a Romanian SRL, this guide covers what goes at which rate, when you must register, which returns you file and the deadlines.

VAT rates in force in November 2026

Romanian VAT is called TVA. Since 1 August 2025 there are two rates: 21% standard and 11% reduced. Law 141/2025 introduced them, replacing the old 19%, 9% and 5%. The consolidated Fiscal Code as of 25 October 2026 keeps the same levels.

The 21% rate applies to everything that is neither exempt nor on the reduced list: consulting, software, marketing, construction, non-food goods.

The 9% rate for housing was transitional. It covered certain contracts with a deposit signed by 1 August 2025 and deliveries by 30 September 2026. It no longer applies.

What goes at 11%

The list is in Article 291(2) of the Fiscal Code. The most common items:

• food and drinks for human and animal consumption;
• medicines for human use;
• restaurant and catering services;
• hotel and similar accommodation, including campsites;
• books, newspapers and magazines, printed or digital;
• water and sewerage, agricultural inputs and services;
• entry to museums, castles and monuments;
• firewood, pellets and heating in the cold season.

These stay at 21%: alcoholic drinks, soft drinks under customs code NC 2202, food with at least 10 g of added sugar per 100 g, and food supplements. That holds in a restaurant too.

Exports and intra-EU supplies do not carry a zero rate. They are exempt with the right to deduct: you charge no VAT but recover the VAT on your costs. The invoice must cite the exemption.

The exemption threshold: 395,000 lei

A small company can trade without a VAT number while its annual turnover stays under 395,000 lei (Article 310). The threshold rose from 300,000 lei on 1 September 2025, under Ordinance 22/2025.

Turnover means the calendar year's taxable supplies, or supplies that would be taxable, plus exempt supplies with the right to deduct. Sales of fixed assets do not count.

Once you cross the threshold, you must apply for VAT registration no later than the day you cross it. VAT applies from the transaction that takes you over. If you are late, ANAF registers you from that date and claims the VAT you should have charged, less the VAT you could have deducted.

You can also register voluntarily. It makes sense when most of your customers are VAT-registered businesses that recover the tax anyway. Run the numbers with your accountant.

Registering for VAT (Article 316)

You apply before your first transactions if you expect turnover above the threshold or opt in. If you apply together with incorporation, registration is valid from the date the company enters the trade register.

If you are still setting up, the Start4 guide on opening a company in Romania shows where this choice fits in the file.

One trap for companies run from abroad. If you are not VAT-registered but buy services from a supplier in another EU country, you need a special VAT code under Article 317 before you receive them. A single EU software subscription triggers it. The same applies to intra-EU purchases of goods above 10,000 euros a year.

Tax period: monthly or quarterly

The default is monthly. You file quarterly if last year's turnover did not exceed the equivalent of 100,000 euros and you made no intra-EU purchases of goods (Article 322).

Quarterly filers submit a statement with the previous year's turnover by 25 January. One taxable intra-EU purchase of goods moves you to monthly filing for the current and the following year.

The returns: D300, D394, D390

D300, the VAT return. Due by the 25th of the month after the period (Article 323), and the VAT is paid by the same date. For October 2026 the deadline is 25 November 2026. Mistakes are fixed in a later return.

D394, the domestic listing. It reports domestic sales and purchases by counterparty, for the same period as the D300. ANAF's 2026 calendar sets it for the 30th of the following month.

D390 VIES, the EC sales list. Monthly, due by the 25th of the following month. It covers goods and services traded with businesses in other EU countries (Article 325).

Cash accounting: a 5,000,000 lei threshold

The scheme still exists and is optional: you pay VAT when the customer pays, not when you invoice. The threshold is 5,000,000 lei from 1 March to 31 December 2026 and 5,500,000 lei from 1 January 2027 (Article 282, amended by Emergency Ordinance 8/2026).

You must be VAT-registered and established in Romania, with prior-year turnover under the threshold. File the notice by the 20th of the month before the period you start from, and stay in the scheme at least until year end.

Your invoices carry the words «TVA la încasare». In return, you deduct VAT on purchases only after paying your supplier. The scheme does not cover reverse-charge supplies, exempt supplies or supplies to related parties.

EU customers and suppliers, plus a summary

Intra-EU supplies of goods to a business with a valid VAT number in another member state are exempt; invoice by the 15th of the following month. B2B services to EU customers are usually taxed in the customer's country under the reverse charge, and your invoice says «taxare inversă». Always check the customer's number in VIES.

Contar includes the VIES check and handles the 21% and 11% rates, exempt supplies (0%) and the reverse charge for EU business customers.

This guide sets out the general rules. For your own company, check with your accountant.

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