You have the invoice that takes you over the threshold, and an accountant who says there are still ten days left from the end of the month. There are not. Since 1 September 2025, you become liable for VAT on the day you exceed the threshold, with the invoice that exceeds it. The old rule is still on the internet; it is no longer in the Tax Code.
The special exemption scheme for small enterprises, set out in Article 310 of the Tax Code, applies to taxable persons with an annual turnover of up to 395,000 lei, a threshold in force since 1 September 2025 under OG nr. 22/2025. Once it is exceeded, VAT registration must be requested no later than the date it is exceeded.
The standard taxation regime applies from the date the threshold is exceeded, starting with the transaction that causes it to be exceeded, and registration is considered valid from that same date. The old rule, requiring the request within 10 days of the end of the month and taking effect from the 1st of the following month, has been repealed. A person who does not request registration may be registered ex officio, with the tax assessed retroactively.
The annual turnover below which the special exemption scheme may apply, calculated under Article 310(2), cumulatively from 1 January of the calendar year. It is monitored continuously, not at year end.
Registration must be requested no later than the date the threshold is exceeded, under Article 316(1)(a). Until 1 September 2025, the deadline was 10 days from the date the threshold was reached or exceeded. This is the change with the greatest practical impact, and the least known.
The standard regime applies starting with the transaction that causes the threshold to be exceeded, and the person may choose to apply it to earlier transactions on the same day as well. Registration is considered valid from the date the threshold is exceeded, not from the date of the tax authority's decision, which merely confirms the fact.
Anyone who exceeded the old threshold in August 2025, but not the new one, did not have to register. Anyone who had registered by 1 September 2025 for exceeding the 300,000 lei threshold could apply for deregistration, under the conditions set out in the ordinance.
The turnover for the threshold is not the accounting turnover. It is determined under Article 310(2) of the Tax Code and comprises the total value, exclusive of tax, of supplies of goods and services that would be taxable if not carried out by a small enterprise, of transactions arising from economic activities for which the place of supply is treated as being abroad, where the tax would be deductible, and of certain exempt transactions expressly listed. Excluded, among other things, are supplies of tangible or intangible fixed assets.
The distinction matters both ways. A company may have large receipts and a small turnover for threshold purposes, if part of its transactions are excluded. Or the reverse: it may exceed the threshold through transactions it does not perceive as ‘sales’, because they are services supplied to recipients abroad. The calculation is done by category of transaction, not from the bank statement.
For those selling to consumers in other Member States, a separate regime exists, with its own threshold of 10,000 euros and the special cross-border scheme for small enterprises, capped at 100,000 euros at EU level. The two thresholds must not be confused, and they do not offset one another.
A person who exceeds the threshold and does not request registration may be registered ex officio by the tax authority, which assesses the tax due for the period from the date the person should have become liable, together with late-payment charges (accesorii: interest and penalties).
The economic consequence differs from a simple fine. The tax assessed retroactively relates to transactions invoiced without VAT, for which nothing was collected from customers. It is borne out of the company's margin, and for a low-margin activity it may exceed the period's profit. Recovering it from customers is, as a rule, commercially impossible and legally uncertain.
The same mechanics produced, year after year, unpayable debts for companies with a cancelled VAT number, a situation the legislature eventually corrected through an amnesty. There is no similar measure for failing to register when the threshold is exceeded. The only protection is monitoring the threshold and requesting registration in time.
By category of transaction, under Article 310(2), cumulatively from 1 January. What counts and what does not is established once, then monitored monthly.
Using ongoing contracts and expected ones, you estimate the month and, as far as possible, the invoice that will exceed the threshold. Exceeding it should not come as a surprise.
If your customers are VAT payers and your taxed purchases are significant, registering by option before reaching the threshold can be advantageous. If your customers are individuals, every day under the threshold is a day with a lower price.
Declarația de mențiuni (Form 700, the registration amendment return), filed through the Spațiul Privat Virtual (SPV), the tax authority's secure online portal, no later than the date the threshold is exceeded. The invoice that exceeds the threshold is issued with VAT, and registration is valid from that date regardless of when the decision is issued.
The rates in force since 1 August 2025, under Article 291 of the Tax Code: 21% standard and 11% reduced, for the transactions listed exhaustively. Invoice series, sales and purchase ledgers, invoicing software, and e-Factura, the national electronic invoicing system. All of these must work from the day the threshold is exceeded, not from the following month.
On registration, the tax related to goods in stock and assets held, acquired during the exemption period, may be adjusted in the person's favour, under the conditions set out in the Tax Code. The inventory is taken on the date of registration, not afterwards.
The VAT return, informative statements, e-Factura, e-TVA, and SAF-T (Declarația 406) where applicable. Each has its own deadline and its own penalty. The calendar is built before the first due date.
The rule was repealed on 1 September 2025. The deadline is the day the threshold is exceeded, and the tax applies from the transaction that exceeds it.
It is based on the calendar year, cumulatively from 1 January. A company set up in November has the full threshold available for two months.
The decision merely confirms the fact. You become liable by operation of law from the date you exceed the threshold, whether or not a decision is issued.
It is the figure calculated under Article 310(2), with its own inclusions and exclusions. The two can differ significantly.
From that invoice. Since 1 September 2025, the standard taxation regime applies from the transaction that causes the 395,000 lei threshold to be exceeded, and registration must be requested no later than the date the threshold is exceeded. The invoice that exceeds the threshold is issued in full with VAT.
The tax authority may register the person ex officio and assess the VAT due for the period since the date they should have become liable, together with late-payment charges. That tax was not collected from customers and is borne from the person's own resources, which turns a delay of a few months into a net loss.
The turnover determined under Article 310(2) of the Tax Code: the value of supplies and services that are taxable, or that would be taxable if not carried out by a small enterprise, with certain exempt transactions included and the exclusions expressly provided. It accumulates from 1 January, within the calendar year; it is not calculated over the last twelve months.
Yes, by option. It makes sense when your customers are mostly VAT payers who deduct the tax, and when your VAT-bearing purchases are significant. For a customer base made up of individuals, voluntary registration increases the final price by the VAT rate.
The transitional regime under OG nr. 22/2025 allows persons registered by 1 September 2025 as a result of exceeding the old threshold to apply for deregistration, provided they had not exceeded the new 395,000 lei threshold at the date of the application, and subject to the conditions set out in the ordinance.
You charge VAT on all taxable supplies of goods and services, at the standard rate of 21% or the reduced rate of 11%, you deduct VAT on purchases, you file the VAT return, you come under e-Factura, e-TVA and, where applicable, SAF-T, and you keep the sales and purchase ledgers. Each has its own deadline and its own penalty.
Informational material, updated on 18 September 2026. It does not constitute legal or tax advice; individual situations must be analysed on a case-by-case basis.
If your company has received a notice or has an inspection under way, related analyses are grouped under tax inspections. For assistance provided to companies, see tax for companies.
An initial discussion recalculates turnover under the threshold rules, establishes the day the threshold was exceeded and what needs to be done now, and, if the tax authority has already intervened ex officio, what can be defended and what cannot.