Plan contractor hiring in Romania

A Romania-resident individual can supply the foreign customer through a persoană fizică autorizată or an întreprindere individuală after registering the activity and obtaining the certificate that carries the CUI. Match that identity to the contract and invoices before work starts. The certificate establishes commercial-register, operating and fiscal setup, while worker status turns on a separate factual record. Romanian tax law requires at least four of seven independence criteria, and its implementing norms require clear terms and actual performance that show real freedom without subordination. Keep the performed relationship free from customer subordination.

Sources: Portal Legislativ, Emergency Ordinance 44/2008 on authorised natural persons, ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms, Portal Legislativ, methodological norms for the independent-activity test

If the line is crossed

A fiscal inspection can reclassify the independent activity as dependent activity and assess the verified person or entity treated as employer for additional salary income tax and compulsory social contributions. Tax and compulsory contributions that the individual already paid on the independent income are treated as advance payments against the corresponding employee-side amounts during regularisation. Use the actual reclassified period to reconcile the assessment with those prior payments.

Sources: ANAF Order 3201/2018, tax regularisation after reclassification

Certificat de înregistrare

Registration certificate

This certificate carries the contractor's cod unic de înregistrare and attests entry in the commercial register, operating authorisation and fiscal registration. Obtain it during onboarding and match the CUI and registered holder to the supplier record before accepting an invoice. It is the control document for confirming that the invoicing CUI belongs to the registered supplier who obtained operating authorisation. Resolve a mismatch before the supplier enters the payment workflow.

Issued by: The competent commercial-register office issues the certificate to the registered PFA or individual enterprise.

Timing: The contractor must request registration and operating authorisation before starting the economic activity, so collect the issued certificate before service delivery begins.

Sources: Portal Legislativ, Emergency Ordinance 44/2008 on authorised natural persons

For an ordinary service supplied to a taxable foreign business, Fiscal Code Article 278(2) locates the service where that customer has its business establishment or the fixed establishment receiving it. The Romanian contractor therefore generally invoices without Romanian VAT. Confirm that the named customer is acting as a business and identify the establishment that actually receives the service before applying that result. Services connected with immovable property, passenger transport, restaurant or catering work, and short-term vehicle hire have special location rules, among other exceptions. If the scope enters one of those categories, decide the place of supply again before choosing the VAT wording, identifier and reporting path.

Sources: ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms

What an invoice has to show

• A unique sequential number, dates and matching supplier and customer identities

  Article 319 requires a unique sequential invoice number, the issue date, an earlier supply date when applicable, and the parties' names and addresses. The supplier field carries the Romanian tax or VAT identifier, while the business customer field carries the identifier appropriate to that customer's jurisdiction and status. Match the customer to the legal entity that signed and received the service, and reject an affiliate copied from the payables system. Preserve the invoice as issued and resolve discrepancies with the contractor.

  Sources: ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms

• A specific service description and the amount for each VAT treatment

  The invoice identifies the services supplied and states the taxable base, unit price and adjustments for each VAT treatment. Use a billed period, milestone or deliverable that connects the document to the accepted statement of work. A generic consulting label can make it difficult to reconcile the billed service with the accepted deliverable. The buyer's approval record should align the description, service date, acceptance event, quantity or unit basis, and amount.

  Sources: ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms

• Taxare inversă and the relevant VAT codes for an EU customer-liability service

  When the customer owes VAT, Article 319 requires the notation taxare inversă. For a general-rule service to a taxable customer in another EU member state, the contractor also uses the Article 316 or 317 VAT code communicated to that customer and follows the D390 reporting branch. Verify the notation and VAT codes against those invoice fields before approval. Reject a reverse-charge phrase paired with a different Romanian identifier.

  Sources: ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms, ANAF, D390 recapitulative declaration

Set the fee, currency, acceptance event and due date in the services contract, then apply that clock to the invoice actually received. Romanian late-payment law prevents the parties from inventing an invoice issue or receipt date, so preserve delivery evidence instead of resetting the clock through an internal approval timestamp. Keep the customer, service acceptance, invoice number, amount and currency aligned through approval and settlement.

Sources: Portal Legislativ, Law 72/2013 on late commercial payments, EUR-Lex, Rome I Regulation, ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms

When invoices are settled

When Romanian law governs and the parties agree no payment term, penalty interest generally starts 30 calendar days after the debtor receives the invoice. Service performance supplies the alternative starting point when receipt is uncertain or the invoice arrived first, and a valid acceptance or verification procedure can change the trigger. Between professionals, the contractual term is ordinarily capped at 60 calendar days. A longer express term is permitted only when the clause is not abusive, so document the commercial reason for an extended approval calendar. Qualifying delay carries the National Bank reference rate plus eight percentage points, reasonable recovery costs and minimum damages equal to the payment-date RON value of EUR 40.

Sources: Portal Legislativ, Law 72/2013 on late commercial payments, Portal Legislativ, Ordinance 13/2011 on statutory interest

The currency on the invoice

Article 319 permits invoice amounts in any currency. If Romanian VAT is collected or later adjusted, the VAT amount must also be expressed in RON. State the actual debt currency in the contract and use it consistently on the invoice and approval record; add a conversion source and date only when the parties permit settlement of an equivalent amount. Romanian tax declarations remain denominated in RON, and foreign-currency amounts use the National Bank rate valid on the receipt, payment or other date specified by the Fiscal Code. That tax-record conversion does not silently rewrite the commercial debt agreed between contractor and customer.

Sources: ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms

Local currency rules

National Bank Regulation 4/2005 allows current and capital foreign-exchange operations between Romanian residents and nonresidents freely in foreign currency or RON. The ordinary cross-border service fee therefore is not forced into RON by the general currency rule. The parties can choose a commercial settlement currency and should record that choice, any conversion method and the allocation of conversion costs in the contract. This conclusion is confined to the fixed noncash B2B services scenario.

Sources: Portal Legislativ, National Bank Regulation 4/2005 on foreign exchange

Treating registration or exclusivity as proof of independence

A valid PFA certificate and CUI prove registration, and Emergency Ordinance 44/2008 says exclusivity alone does not make the PFA an employee of a collaborating third party. Neither fact proves the tax classification. The activity must still meet at least four of seven Fiscal Code criteria, while the contract and performance must show real economic substance without subordination. Recheck the operating model when the customer adds fixed coverage, directs methods, supplies all working assets or turns delivery into an embedded individual role. Record which four or more criteria the contractor actually meets, and keep acceptance controls focused on outputs and free of daily personal direction.

Sources: Portal Legislativ, Emergency Ordinance 44/2008 on authorised natural persons, ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms, Portal Legislativ, methodological norms for the independent-activity test

Using the domestic VAT threshold to skip the EU-services registration

The RON 395,000 amount belongs to the Article 310 domestic small-business exemption. It does not defer Article 317 registration before a qualifying general-rule service to an EU business customer. A contractor outside normal Article 316 registration may therefore remain below the domestic threshold and still need the special VAT code, communicate it to the customer and report the intra-EU service in D390. Separate the branch questions during onboarding: where the service is located, whether the customer is in the EU, whether it is a taxable business, and which Romanian VAT registration the contractor already holds. Recheck those facts if the receiving customer entity changes.

Sources: ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms, ANAF, D390 recapitulative declaration, ANAF, VAT small-business threshold notice

Assuming the domestic RO e-Factura recipient flow delivers the foreign invoice

The domestic B2B mandate covers transactions between taxable persons established in Romania for supplies located in Romania. Do not rely on that domestic recipient flow as proof that the foreign customer's accounts-payable team received the invoice. Agree a direct invoice-delivery address or process with the foreign customer. The contractor can have separate RO e-Factura duties for domestic transactions, so keep this conclusion limited to the fixed foreign-customer service.

Sources: Portal Legislativ, Emergency Ordinance 120/2021 on RO e-Factura, ANAF, consolidated Fiscal Code and methodological norms, Portal Legislativ, Law 72/2013 on late commercial payments