A border does not close off tax obligations; it multiplies them. Residence, treaties, foreign income and reporting: for interests in more than one jurisdiction.
Tax residence is not lost through absence but by completing a procedure and severing ties that the law lists exhaustively. Until then you remain taxable here on your worldwide income, and the administration learns what you have received abroad through the automatic exchange of information.
This section covers situations in which a tax obligation crosses a border: people working from Romania for foreign employers, Romanians who have relocated but keep ties here, investors holding accounts with foreign brokers, owners of property in other states, and companies moving their seat or their assets. The common thread is a costly misconception: the belief that tax paid in one state settles the obligation in the other. It does not; it changes only how much more you owe and under which mechanism, and filing generally remains compulsory.
It is addressed to individuals with income or assets in more than one jurisdiction and to companies with cross-border operations, and equally to advisers who need to test an existing structure before an inspection does. The analyses concentrate on what must be proved and when: the residence certificate at the time of payment, the documents supporting the foreign tax credit, and the forms and deadlines that turn a correct position into one that can be asserted against the authorities.
The material is grouped in three parts. Residence and double taxation deals with the fundamentals: the residence criteria and the departure questionnaire, how treaties operate and the tie-breaker cascade, and the position of those working from Romania for an employer who withholds nothing at source. Foreign income and assets covers the declaration and crediting of dividends, interest and investment gains, together with the treatment of property held abroad. Structures and reporting deals with relocating the company and the exit tax, and with the obligation to report cross-border arrangements.
ANAF's review of foreign accounts is dealt with at length in the tax inspection section, and the criminal consequences of undeclared accounts in the economic criminal law section.
Where you are taxable, and how a treaty applies in practice.
18 September 2026
The administrative appeal and the court proceedings concern the Romanian act; the other state is not bound by them. For double taxation there is the mutual agreement procedure under Article 282 of the Tax Procedure Code, with ANAF as the competent authority, open since 2025 to any affected person, including pre-emptively, with a three-year time limit and with ANAF's power to depart from the inspection's findings. Directive 2017/1852 and the Arbitration Convention add deadlines and compulsory arbitration within the Union. The typical situations, coordination with the administrative appeal, and the seven steps.
18 September 2026
A fixed place with permanence, a building site lasting more than 6 months or an agent concluding contracts in the company's name creates a permanent establishment under Article 8 of the Tax Code, with no local entity at all, with corporate tax on the attributable share from the start of the activity, under Article 36. The three forms, the preparatory and auxiliary exceptions, the treaty that can save or worsen the position, the risk situations, from the remote employee to the captive distributor, Form 013 and the seven steps.
18 September 2026
A pension received from another state is declared in Romania by the tax resident, through the Declarația unică, with 3,000 lei a month tax-free, tax of 10% and, from 1 August 2025, CASS of 10% on the amount above the threshold, calculated monthly, per country. The treaty decides whether the source state may withhold, distinguishing between public and private pensions, and the foreign tax credit is granted only for tax withheld lawfully. Residence on return, the reverse situation of the pensioner who has left, a worked example and the seven steps.
18 September 2026
Salary paid by a non-resident employer for work carried out abroad is neither taxed nor declared in Romania, under Article 76(4)(o) and point 12(19) of the implementing rules. What still applies, though, is residence, which requires the declaration of your other worldwide income, the exception for secondment by a Romanian employer, contributions determined by the state of employment, and, on return, proof of the money brought home. The seven steps and the four costly assumptions.
18 September 2026
The EUR 10,000 threshold, aggregated across all states, decides where VAT is due on sales to EU consumers, and OSS allows it to be declared in a single place. Physical stock held in a warehouse in another state, however, requires a local VAT number with no threshold at all, and moving it is an intra-Community transfer. What OSS covers, what it does not, four costly assumptions and the seven steps, starting with mapping your stock.
18 September 2026
Legea 431/2023 applies the global minimum tax to groups with consolidated revenue above EUR 750 million, including groups that are exclusively Romanian. The Romanian entity falls within the law however small it is, and the nominal rate of 16% does not guarantee the effective rate of 15%. The first reporting deadline, 30 June 2026, has passed; the second, 31 March 2027, is running. The three rules and the seven steps.
18 September 2026
A director's remuneration is income treated as salary and falls within the Romanian resident's worldwide income. The exclusion for work carried out abroad does not apply when management is exercised from Romania. But the question with the highest stakes is not the remuneration; it is the company: managed effectively from Romania, it risks becoming tax resident here. The three levels, in the right order, and the seven steps.
18 September 2026
Both states claim tax on your worldwide income, each under its own law. The treaty resolves the conflict through criteria applied in strict order: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality and, as a last resort, agreement between the authorities. ANAF's questionnaires, the real role of the residence certificate and what happens when there is no treaty.
18 September 2026
A seafarer resident in Romania faces two separate questions. The flag of the vessel decides the contributions, under Article 11(4) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, subject to the exception for a payer in the state of residence. Residence and the treaty decide the tax, and Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code raises the problem of the high seas, which is not a foreign state. The seven steps and four typical combinations.
18 September 2026
The A1 portable document establishes where social contributions are paid, not where income is taxed. The two regimes can, perfectly lawfully, point to different states. Who issues it, the three situations in which it is granted, the substantive conditions checked by CNPP, the seven steps to follow and what happens when it is missing.
17 July 2026
Physically leaving Romania does not move your taxes: the criteria are alternative, and your domicile or centre of vital interests keep you resident even with minimal presence here. The Z017 questionnaire, the treaty's “tie-breaker” cascade and how ANAF checks through CRS/DAC2.
17 July 2026
A treaty never applies “automatically”: without a residence certificate at the time of payment, the Romanian payer withholds the domestic rate of 16%. How it is applied, credit versus exemption, the withholding rates under major treaties, the principal purpose test (PPT) and the mutual agreement procedure.
17 July 2026
Do you work from Romania for a foreign employer who withholds nothing? The absence of withholding at source is not an exemption; it shifts the obligation: a monthly D224 return for tax, and an agreement or the employer's registration for CAS and CASS. What Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 says, why the digital nomad visa does not concern you, and what the employer risks through a permanent establishment.
Declaration, foreign tax credit and the treatment of property held abroad.
17 July 2026
From 2026, dividends are taxed at 16%, and gains made through brokers without a permanent establishment in Romania are also taxed at 16%, against 3% or 6% through resident intermediaries. How they are declared in the D212, how the foreign tax credit under Article 131 works, what documents it requires, which CASS thresholds apply and within what limits losses are carried forward.
17 July 2026
Paying tax there does not exempt you from declaring it here; it only changes how much more you pay, through the method set out in the treaty. Rent at the 20% flat-rate deduction, a sale taxed on the transaction price rather than on the gain, local taxes that are not credited, CASS by threshold and how ANAF finds out through DAC1 and DAC7.
Relocating the company, and cross-border reporting obligations.
17 July 2026
If the decisions are still taken from Brașov, the company in Dubai is tax resident in Romania, potentially established ex officio. The place of effective management under Article 7(18), a 16% exit tax on the latent capital gain with no deferral outside the EU/EEA, the CFC rules under Article 40⁵, and what is left of the substance test after ATAD 3 was withdrawn.
17 July 2026
A “DAC6 notice” from your adviser is not a formality: it is the moment at which the reporting obligation passes to your company, with a 30-day time limit that is already running. Hallmarks A to E, the main benefit test, what the CJEU has ruled on legal professional privilege, and what changes under the package of 24 June 2026.
Informative material, updated on 18 July 2026. It does not constitute legal or tax advice; individual situations must be assessed on their own facts.
The 156 analyses are grouped into four areas. A real case usually passes through several of them.
Tax inspection, antifraud control and the review of an individual's tax position: from the compliance notice to the tax assessment decision.
38 analysesTaking ANAF to court: the action for annulment, suspension of enforcement, the evidence, the appeal on points of law and the recovery of sums paid.
12 analysesTax evasion, embezzlement, money laundering and the related economic offences: from the figure in the report to the defence in the file.
30 analysesEconomic substance, jurisdictions and anti-abuse rules: what remains lawful after BEPS, ATAD and CRS, and where the line into criminal liability is crossed.
10 analysesSeparating personal wealth from business risk: principles, liability, the instruments that actually protect, and the line between lawful planning and fraud.
10 analysesTrusts and the Romanian fiducie, family foundations, international succession and forced heirship: how wealth is transferred lawfully between generations.
7 analysesParty-appointed and out-of-court tax expertise: the technical challenge to the loss calculation in an inspection, in litigation and in the criminal file, from objections to counter-expertise.
20 analysesThe file and the methods, the comparability study, ANAF adjustments to the median, intra-group services and loans, APAs and the inspection, for transactions between related companies.
11 analysesThe complete list of the 156 analyses published, in chronological order, with filters by area.
Go to InsightsThe automatic exchange of information is already operating, and a correct but undocumented position is hard to defend retrospectively. A first conversation establishes where you are taxable and what has to be declared.