Expatries Network
Country profile

Payroll in Romania: a restricted activity

The network covers Romania within the Eastern Europe region. Payslips there are drawn up in RON, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Romanian.

The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Bucarest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași.

The country is a member of the European Union. An employee posted from another member state remains attached to the scheme of origin under the conditions set by the European coordination regulations, and the A1 certificate issued by the institution of the sending country is the proof of this. That document is called for during on-site inspections: it is applied for before departure, never afterwards.

Region
Eastern Europe
Payroll currency
RON
Working languages
Romanian
European status
European Union member state
Capital
Bucarest
Dialling code
+40
Country code
RO / ROU

Who may run payroll in Romania

The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.

In Romania, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Expert contabil / contabil autorizat ; societate de expertiză contabilă, and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.

Local title
Expert contabil / contabil autorizat ; societate de expertiză contabilă
Professional body or supervisory authority
Corpul Experților Contabili și Contabililor Autorizați din România (CECCAR)

Consult the official register

What to check on the ground

L'ordonnance gouvernementale 65/1994 réserve la tenue de comptabilité et l'établissement des états financiers pour le compte de tiers aux experts-comptables, aux comptables agréés et aux sociétés d'expertise comptable membres du CECCAR, à jour de leur viza annuelle et assurés. La paie, en tant que prestation contractuelle distincte, est en pratique fournie par ces mêmes cabinets ; s'y ajoute l'information préalable de l'ITM pour la tenue du REVISAL. Un candidat roumain sans autorisation CECCAR doit expliquer sur quel fondement il exerce.

Payroll in Romania in practice

Romania is an EU member state that has not adopted the euro: salaries are denominated in Romanian lei, which introduces a currency dimension into the budgets of a euro area company. EU membership does bring the social security coordination regulations fully into play, and posting is common practice.

Romanian is the language of the administration, of the employment contract and of employment records. A bilingual version is accepted and frequent where the employee does not speak Romanian, but it is the Romanian version that is filed.

One point sets Romania distinctly apart: the accounting profession is organised into a professional body, the Corpul Experților Contabili și Contabililor Autorizați din România (CECCAR), and government ordinance 65/1994 reserves bookkeeping and the preparation of financial statements for third parties to its members. Payroll, a distinct contractual service, is in practice supplied by those same firms, with an additional duty to notify the labour inspectorate in advance where the employee register is maintained externally.

Employing staff in Romania

A written employment contract must be entered in the general employee register, REVISAL, before the first day of work. That sequencing is not a recommendation: it is inspected, and failure is heavily penalised. The contract follows a Romanian national template whose headings are prescribed.

The entity obtains its unique registration code from the Oficiul Național al Registrului Comerțului (ONRC, the national trade register office), then identifies itself with the Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală (ANAF, the tax administration), which collects both wage tax and social contributions.

The form of presence is chosen beforehand: a subsidiary, a branch or, in certain configurations, direct registration as an employer. The decision turns on the expected duration of the operation and on permanent establishment risk, and it is easier to settle before the first hire than to unwind afterwards.

Income tax and contributions are withheld by the employer and reported monthly through a single return, declaration 112, which consolidates obligations towards several bodies. A payslip must be issued to the employee and retained by the employer for the period prescribed by law.

Termination follows a formalised procedure depending on the ground, with an update to the employee register and the delivery of end-of-contract documents. A contractual notice period may be added to the statutory one.

Romania

The documents required of a partner in Romania

The network asks 10 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Romania. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.

Of these 10 documents, 9 are required of every applicant and 6 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 1 months. 2 of these documents exist only in Romania and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.

Local wordingIssuing bodyValiditySource
Certificat constatatorCompany status certificate from the Trade Register

Le certificat constatator est l'équivalent roumain du Kbis : siège, capital, associés, administrateurs, codes CAEN autorisés. Vérifier la présence du code CAEN 6920 (activités comptables et de conseil fiscal).

Oficiul Național al Registrului Comerțului (ONRC)3 months
Required
Official website
Certificat de înregistrare (CUI) et Certificat de înregistrare în scopuri de TVARegistration certificate (unique identification code) and VAT registration certificate

Le CUI sert d'identifiant fiscal ; précédé de RO il devient le numéro de TVA intracommunautaire, à vérifier dans VIES. Attention, toutes les sociétés roumaines ne sont pas assujetties à la TVA : en dessous du seuil, il n'existe pas de certificat TVA et c'est normal.

Oficiul Național al Registrului Comerțului pour le CUI ; Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală (ANAF) pour la TVANo expiry
Required
Official website
Certificat de atestare fiscalăTax attestation certificate

Durée de validité très courte : le Code de procédure fiscale lui donne 30 jours pour les personnes morales. Il couvre à la fois les impôts et les contributions sociales, qui sont toutes collectées par l'ANAF depuis 2018.

Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală (ANAF), administration de rattachement1 month
Required
Official website
Certificat de atestare fiscală (secțiunea contribuții sociale) et recipisele declarației 112Social contributions section of the tax attestation certificate plus D112 filing receipts

Il n'existe pas d'attestation sociale distincte en Roumanie : CAS, CASS et CAM sont déclarées et payées via la déclaration unique 112 à l'ANAF, et leur régularité figure dans le même certificat d'atestare fiscală. Ne pas chercher un document de la Casa de Pensii.

Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală (ANAF)1 month
Required
Official website
Certificat de cazier fiscalFiscal record certificate

Pièce roumaine spécifique, souvent oubliée par les candidats étrangers : elle recense les faits sanctionnés par la législation fiscale, comptable ou douanière imputés à la société et à ses dirigeants. Valable 30 jours.

Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală (ANAF)1 month
Required
Official website
Asigurare de răspundere civilă profesională (poliță de risc profesional)Professional liability insurance

Obligatoire par la loi et non par usage : tout membre du CECCAR, personne physique ou société d'expertise comptable, doit souscrire une assurance de risque professionnel, et sa preuve conditionne l'obtention de la viza annuelle d'exercice. Exiger la police en cours.

Assureur agréé par l'Autoritatea de Supraveghere Financiară ; obligation posée par l'OG 65/1994 et le règlement intérieur du CECCAR12 months
Required
Official website
Autorizație de funcționare CECCAR și viza anuală de exercitare a profesieiCECCAR authorisation and annual practising visa

La viza se renouvelle chaque année, échéance habituelle au 31 mars, sous condition de cotisation à jour, de formation continue et d'assurance professionnelle. Le tableau des membres est public sur le site du CECCAR : vérifier le cabinet ET l'expert-comptable responsable.

Corpul Experților Contabili și Contabililor Autorizați din România (CECCAR)12 months
Required
Official website
Contract de prestări servicii de completare și transmitere a registrului general de evidență a salariaților (REVISAL) et informare prealabilă a ITMREVISAL service contract and prior notification to the Territorial Labour Inspectorate

Spécificité roumaine décisive pour la paie : l'employeur peut confier la tenue du registre électronique des salariés à un prestataire, mais il doit en informer préalablement l'inspection territoriale du travail. Demander au candidat un exemple d'information ITM, cela prouve qu'il pratique réellement la paie externalisée.

Inspecția Muncii — Inspectoratul Teritorial de Muncă (ITM) compétentNo expiry
Required
Official website
Copie carte de identitate sau pașaport al administratoruluiIdentity card or passport of the company director

Le CNP de l'administrateur figure au registre du commerce, ce qui permet le recoupement avec le certificat constatator.

Direcția pentru Evidența Persoanelor și Administrarea Bazelor de Date ; pièce fournie par le candidatNo expiry
Required
Official website
Registrul evidenței activităților de prelucrare (art. 30 GDPR) și notificarea DPO la ANSPDCPRecord of processing activities and DPO notification

Plus aucune déclaration préalable de traitement depuis le RGPD ; l'ancien registre national des traitements a disparu. Ce qui reste exigible est le registre de l'article 30 et, si un DPO est désigné, sa notification à l'ANSPDCP via le formulaire en ligne.

Autoritatea Națională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal (ANSPDCP)No expiry
Where applicable
Official website

What sets Romania apart

Romania is one of the few countries in our scope where outsourcing payroll leaves an administrative trace of its own: an employer entrusting the employee register to a provider must notify the territorial labour inspectorate beforehand. That formality is an excellent test of whether a candidate genuinely carries on the activity, since it can produce the supporting evidence.

The validity of tax certificates is, moreover, very short. The tax attestation certificate and the fiscal record certificate issued by ANAF are valid for only one month for a legal person, so they should be requested at the close of the review rather than at the outset, on pain of starting over.

Competing designations persist. The ONRC certificat constatator is sometimes called something else depending on the variant ordered, and the former tax registration certificate has been merged into the unique registration code.

Points to watch in Romania

Deux durées à retenir : les attestations ANAF (atestare fiscală et cazier fiscal) ne valent que 30 jours pour une personne morale, il faut donc les demander en fin d'instruction du dossier et non au début. Appellations concurrentes : le « certificat constatator » de l'ONRC est parfois appelé « furnizare de informații » selon la variante commandée, et l'ancien « certificat de înregistrare fiscală » a fusionné avec le CUI. Enfin, la Roumanie est l'un des rares pays de la liste où la paie externalisée laisse une trace administrative propre, l'information préalable de l'inspection du travail pour le REVISAL : c'est un excellent test de la réalité de l'activité du candidat.

The network in Romania

The network opens 3 partner slots in Romania, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.

Listed firms in Romania

No listed partner in Romania has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.

Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.

You run payroll in Romania

Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.

Romania has a professional body, and we draw the consequences. A candidate firm must produce its operating authorisation issued by CECCAR together with the annual practising visa, under the title of expert contabil or contabil autorizat. Professional indemnity insurance, required by the body's own rules, is mandatory. The file also contains the ONRC certificat constatator, the ANAF tax attestation and fiscal record certificates, requested at the close of the review, and evidence of prior notification to the labour inspectorate for REVISAL.

Submit an application

You employ staff in Romania

Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Romania yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.

Request a provider in Romania

The other countries in the Eastern Europe region

Mobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.

The twenty leading countries of the network

These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.

See the 120 countries of the network

Sources of this profile

The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Romania.