A plumber has been working “on his own account” for four years: clients come through referrals and Facebook groups, part of the money goes into his personal card, the rest is cash. He has no PFA (persoană fizică autorizată), the authorised sole-trader form, “nobody has ever asked, not once”. In 2026, this way of working is no longer invisible: accounts are visible in the central register of accounts, platforms report sellers and hosts, notaries report transactions. And between July 2025 and May 2026, ANAF, Romania's national tax administration, ran the widest verification campaign targeting private individuals in recent years.
There is no magic number of transactions below which you are safe. The law uses qualitative criteria, and the tax authority applies them retroactively, for up to 5 years back.
For VAT purposes, article 269(2) of the Tax Code classifies as economic activity, among other things, “the exploitation of tangible or intangible property for the purpose of obtaining income on a continuing basis”. For income tax purposes, income from independent activities (activități independente) (articles 67-68 of the Tax Code) covers production, trade and the supply of services carried out regularly, for the purpose of obtaining income.
The aim of earning income over a longer period, not an isolated disposal of a personal asset.
Sourcing materials or stock, dedicated tools and equipment, promotion, quoting for work, all of these evidence an organised activity.
Predictable receipts, at regular intervals, from a clientele that renews itself.
A team, set hours, a price list, a portfolio: the outward signs of a trader.
The mere exercise of the right of ownership is not economic activity, and the number and scale of sales are not, in themselves, decisive. What is decisive is active steps taken to market goods and the deployment of means similar to those of a trader.
In the Romanian case C-183/14, Salomie and Oltean (9 July 2015), the CJEU confirmed that ANAF can impose VAT retroactively on private individuals who have built and sold immovable property on a continuing basis, together with the corresponding obligation to recognise their right of deduction. In practice: a team of tradesmen who “take on jobs” week after week, a person who buys goods to resell online, a tutor with a fixed roster of pupils, an owner who lets flats on a short-term basis, all of these carry on economic activities, even without any registered form.
Under OUG nr. 44/2008, any economic activity carried out in Romania by private individuals, whether on a permanent, occasional or temporary basis, must be registered and authorised before it starts: as a PFA, an întreprindere individuală (individual enterprise) or an întreprindere familială (family enterprise); the alternative is an SRL (a private limited company), and liberal professions have their own regimes.
If you promote your services, take repeat payments and have a clientele, you are already past the line: the question is not “whether” but “since when”.
PFA/II: 10% tax on net income (actual-income system or the flat-rate income quota (normă de venit)), plus CAS (the state pension contribution) and CASS (the health insurance contribution) at the thresholds set against the minimum wage. SRL: tax on microîntreprindere income (the reduced-rate company regime) or corporate income tax, plus tax on dividends.
With the trade registry (registrul comerțului), using CAEN codes that actually match what you do: construction, online trade or services, as the case may be.
The Declarația unică (Form 212), Romania's single annual return for income tax and social contributions owed by individuals, with an estimate of income when you start the activity and a true-up by 25 May of the following year, plus single-entry bookkeeping (evidența în partidă simplă) if you are on the actual-income system.
A fiscal receipt (bon fiscal) for every cash or card payment received from private individuals (OUG nr. 28/1999). Invoices to companies have been transmitted through the RO e-Factura system, the national electronic invoicing system, since 1 July 2024, and those to private individuals since 1 January 2025.
Separating it from your personal account is the simplest piece of tax housekeeping, and evidence of good faith at inspection.
The special exemption regime for small enterprises (article 310 of the Tax Code) lets you operate without VAT up to an annual turnover of 395,000 lei, a threshold raised from 300,000 lei by OG nr. 22/2025, in force since 1 September 2025. The rules on exceeding it changed at the same time, and more strictly: until August 2025 you had 10 days from the end of the month in which you reached the threshold, and VAT applied from the date of registration; now, you must apply for VAT registration no later than the date on which you exceed the threshold, and the VAT regime applies from the very transaction that causes the excess. A single large invoice that “jumps” the threshold already carries VAT.
The rates applicable from 1 August 2025 (Legea nr. 141/2025): 21% standard rate, 11% reduced rate. For anyone active in real estate, the message from case law is direct: selling new buildings or building land on a continuing basis turns you into a taxable person, with VAT charged retroactively plus accesorii (late-payment charges: interest and penalties), the pattern from Salomie and Oltean.
A trap that is often overlooked: for intra-Community services supplied or received (commissions to platforms, online advertising), you need a special VAT code (article 317 of the Tax Code) regardless of the threshold, with no right of deduction but with reporting obligations.
NOTE. Exemption below the threshold does not exempt you from record-keeping. Without invoices, receipts and a receipts register, you cannot prove where you stand against the 395,000 lei threshold, and in the absence of records, the tax authority estimates it for you, based on bank statements and third-party data.
What happens, in practice, if the obligations remain unmet. The stages are not alternatives: they can accumulate.
If you do not file your returns, the tax authority notifies you, and after 15 days it can issue an assessment decision based on an estimate (articles 106-107 of the Tax Procedure Code), built from the data available and, as a rule, unfavourable. You have 60 days from notification to file the actual return, on pain of forfeiture.
A full remote audit (articles 148-149 of the Tax Procedure Code): if you do not produce the documents within 30 days, or they are insufficient, a tax assessment decision (decizie de impunere) is issued, without the authority ever having visited you. Since 2026, Antifraud inspectors have also been making heavy use of this tool.
Interest of 0.02% per day (around 7.3% a year), late-payment penalties of 0.01% per day and, for undeclared obligations established by decision, a non-declaration penalty of 0.08% per day (article 181 of the Tax Procedure Code), which over 4-5 years can equal or exceed the principal.
Since 11 November 2023 (Legea nr. 296/2023), carrying on economic activities without lawful organisation, or with goods lacking documents of origin, is a regulatory offence (contravenție): a fine of 2,000 to 15,000 lei for private individuals, plus confiscation of the goods and the income obtained.
An “occasional” activity can be reclassified as an independent activity, with tax and contributions charged back 5 years. Conversely, a PFA working mainly for a single beneficiary risks reclassification as a dependent activity, under the seven-criteria test in article 7(3) of the Tax Code.
At a discrepancy of more than 10%, but at least 50,000 lei, you become eligible for a review of your personal tax position, usually preceded by a compliance notice (notificare de conformare) (article 140¹ of the Tax Procedure Code), giving you 30 days to clarify matters.
Income whose source cannot be identified is taxed at 70% (article 117 of the Tax Code, in force since 1 July 2024). And from 6 July 2026, under OPANAF nr. 768/2026, Antifraud inspectors too can carry out this review and issue decisions applying the 70% tax. At significant amounts, concealing the taxable source falls within the pattern of tax evasion (article 9 of Legea nr. 241/2005), and the tax procedure can run in parallel with a criminal one, which is not a theoretical possibility for systematic activities with cash receipts and no documentary trail.
The horizon of exposure: the tax authority's right to establish claims becomes time-barred after 5 years, running from 1 July of the year following the one for which the obligation is owed (article 110 of the Tax Procedure Code); the period becomes 10 years where the obligations arise from an act defined by criminal law, established by a final court judgment. Details in the dedicated analysis of the tax limitation period (prescripție).
Construction. The Labour Inspectorate is running its national campaign against undeclared work in construction (CAEN 41-43) from 1 April to 7 December 2026, in parallel with ANAF inspections on building sites. The fine for each person taken on to work without a contract is 40,000 lei, and the total per employer can reach 1,000,000 lei. For unregistered teams of tradesmen, the exposure is twofold: unlawful economic activity for the one who “takes the job”, and undeclared work for the one who uses the workers. More and more customers, whether companies or individuals wanting to substantiate their own expenses, are refusing work without an invoice.
Short-term lettings (Airbnb, Booking). Under DAC7, platforms report hosts and amounts received to ANAF every year. The campaign that began in 2025 identified tens of thousands of hosts with undeclared income, checked retroactively over the past 5 years. Since 2026, the regime has been unified: net income through a flat-rate expense quota of 30%, the 7-room limit kept, a cash register mandatory for direct cash or card receipts (but not for payments made solely through platforms), and, from 20 May 2026, new record-keeping obligations for occupancy.
Private tutoring and services provided at home. Since the pilot project in Prahova, income from tutoring has remained a fixture on ANAF's compliance list, alongside beauty services, repairs and occasional transport, patterns involving cash receipts or payments into personal accounts, easily detected from bank turnover and from flows reported by banks.
Online sales and marketplaces. Platform operators report to ANAF, by 31 January for the previous year, sellers who exceed 30 sales or 2,000 euros in a year. In 2025, ANAF sent out more than 11,000 compliance notices to online sellers, and the large cases (over 500,000 lei) went straight into documentary verification. The occasional sale of personal belongings remains non-taxable; buying to resell is trade and must be taxed.
Even simple ones, for each client or job: subject matter, price, deadline, method of payment.
Invoice, receipt, fiscal receipt (bon fiscal). Nothing “off the books”.
Matched to the Declarația unică, the amounts declared must reconcile with your bank statements.
For any atypical past transfer (loans from relatives, repayments), keep explanations and supporting documents.
For materials and stock, their absence triggers confiscation on its own (Legea nr. 296/2023).
Quotes, estimates, messages with clients: evidence of the real nature and volume of the activity, useful either way.
Monthly, against the 395,000 lei figure, plus a tax calendar with the 25 May deadline.
Annually, if you have a dominant client: check the criteria in article 7(3) of the Tax Code before the inspectors do.
NOTE. The compliance file is built before any inspection. Documents that suddenly appear after receiving a notice or a notice of tax inspection (aviz de inspecție) carry reduced evidential weight and can raise further suspicion, including of forgery.
No, disposing of goods from your personal estate (clothes, used electronics, furniture) is not taxable income. The platform will still report you to ANAF if you exceed 30 sales or 2,000 euros a year, and the tax authority can ask for explanations. Keep evidence that the goods were yours; the problem arises when you buy in order to resell, or sell new goods in bulk, that is trade.
Voluntary compliance beats waiting: register your organisational form for the future and file the returns for past years, paying the obligations due, before you are selected for an inspection. A return filed on your own initiative avoids the 0.08% per day non-declaration penalty, which applies only to amounts established by the tax authority through a decision. Situations involving large amounts or criminal exposure should be handled with specialist assistance, because how the regularisation is done matters.
The law does not fix a number, and the CJEU has expressly said that the number and scale of sales are not decisive. What counts is organisation and active steps: promotion, sourcing goods for resale, a steady clientele, a price list. Three isolated jobs in five years do not make an economic activity; three jobs a month do.
Registration does not automatically trigger an inspection, but it does not erase the past either: the 5-year limitation period remains open, and historical data (bank turnover, platform reports) exists independently of registration. In practice, registering and voluntarily regularising the sensitive years drastically reduces your exposure; registering without regularising leaves it intact, and merely dates it.
Informational material, updated on 17 July 2026. It does not constitute legal or tax advice; individual situations must be assessed on their own facts.
If you have an inspection under way or have just received a notice, related analyses are grouped under tax inspections and verification of private individuals. For how such cases are handled, see tax assistance.
Time limits run from the moment of notification. An initial discussion clarifies what you are being accused of, what you need to justify and how the defence is built, before an estimate becomes a tax assessment decision.