You pressed “send” and only then noticed it: the wrong amount, the wrong client, the old VAT rate. In your invoicing software you could edit it. In the ANAF system, the invoice already has an index number and a signature, it has reached the client and the tax authority at the same time, and there is no delete button. The correction follows a single route, one that predates the system, but with new deadlines.
The correction of an electronic invoice communicated to the recipient through the RO e-Factura system is made under Article 330 of the Tax Code, as OUG nr. 120/2021 expressly provides: an invoice not transmitted to the beneficiary is cancelled and another is issued; an invoice that has been transmitted is corrected either through a new invoice containing the original information with a minus sign together with the correct information, or through a reversal followed by a new invoice. The corrected invoice is transmitted through the same system.
In the system, the distinction under Article 330 translates into two situations. An invoice rejected at validation has not been transmitted and has reached no one: it is corrected and resubmitted. A validated invoice, with an index number and a signature, has been communicated: it is reversed through a new document, with negative values and a reference to the original invoice, and a new, correct invoice is issued. Each document has its own five-working-day deadline from its issue date. ANAF, Romania's national tax administration, has confirmed that the original invoice is never amended.
The system returns a file with the identified errors, signed by the Ministry of Finance. The invoice is not treated as transmitted and has not been received by the recipient. It is corrected in the software and resubmitted, with the same number. The five-working-day deadline runs from the issue date, not from the rejection; an invoice rejected on the fifth day and resubmitted on the sixth is late.
It has a download index and the ministry’s signature; it has been communicated to the client and to the tax authority. It is not deleted, not cancelled, not amended. Any correction goes through a reversal and reissue, with new documents transmitted through the system, each within its own deadline.
A new document, with a new number from the issuer's series, carrying the values of the original invoice with a minus sign, either in full or only for the incorrect lines, and with a mandatory reference to the number and date of the original invoice. It is transmitted like any invoice, within five working days of its own issue.
Another new document, with the correct values, referring to the original invoice, transmitted through the same system, with its own deadline. Resubmitting the same invoice, with the same number and changed data, is not a correction: it produces a duplicate in the system and a permanent mismatch.
A wrong amount, VAT rate or discount: a full reversal and a new, correct invoice. A wrong quantity or item: a partial reversal of the incorrect lines and a new invoice for the correct value. A partial return of goods or a discount granted later are not mistakes but new events, dealt with through a partial reversal invoice or a credit note, without touching the original invoice.
The wrong client, with the CUI or CIF of another company: the beneficiary is not corrected, because changing it is a different transaction. The invoice issued to the wrong client is reversed in full and a new invoice is issued to the correct one. The wrong client is notified in writing not to record the invoice and receives the reversal.
An invoice issued twice for the same transaction: the second one is reversed in full. An invoice issued to a client who commercially refuses delivery, over quantity or quality: their refusal is not a refusal in the system; for tax purposes, it is reversed to the extent of the refusal. An invoice with incorrect formal details, a description or product code, with no effect on the amounts: some software allows a correction invoice referring to the original; when in doubt, reversal and reissue are the safe route.
All corrections must also be reflected in the VAT return for the period in which they are issued, with the adjustment of the output tax at the issuer and of the deductible tax at the client, and in the ledgers that feed SAF-T. A correction made in the system and forgotten in the accounts produces exactly the mismatch that the correction was meant to avoid.
The system has no refusal button. The invoice received, whether correct or not, stays in the recipient's space as the issuer's document. What the beneficiary can do is not record it, not deduct the VAT on it, and ask the issuer in writing for the reversal, keeping the XML file and the correspondence as proof of the refusal. An issuer who reverses it closes the matter; one who does not is left with an invoice that has no underlying transaction and with VAT collected on it.
The beneficiary's risk is twofold. If they record it and deduct the VAT on a wrong invoice, the deduction is open to challenge. If they do not record it and do not document the refusal, the tax authority sees a supply declared by the supplier and not declared by the client, the mismatch pattern in Declarația 394, the domestic transactions listing, that triggers a check on both. The correspondence with the issuer is what makes the difference between the two.
Rejected or validated. This is checked in the system: an error file or an index with a signature. The rest of the procedure depends only on this answer.
The error from the response file is corrected and the invoice is resubmitted, with the same number, before the five working days from issue expire. No reversal.
A new document, negative values, in full or in part, referring to the original invoice. It is transmitted and validation is awaited; the index is checked.
A new document, with the correct values and a reference to the original invoice, transmitted within five working days of its own issue. The number of the wrong invoice is not reused.
The reversal and the correct invoice are sent to the client, with the express note that the original invoice is not to be recorded. For the wrong client, the same communication, with the reversal.
The reversal and the new invoice are recorded in the ledgers for the period of issue, with the VAT adjustment made in that period's return. What is in the system must also be in SAF-T and in the return, at the same values.
The XML files of all documents, including the wrong invoice, with the system's responses and the correspondence with the client. The legal original is the XML in the system, not the PDF from the software.
Resubmitting with the same number produces a duplicate. A validated invoice is reversed; it is not resent.
Each document has its own five-working-day deadline from its own issue. A rejection, however, does not extend the original invoice's deadline.
There is no refusal in the system. The client does not record it and asks for the reversal; without a reversal, the invoice remains, with VAT collected at the issuer.
The correction must also reach the ledgers, the return and SAF-T. Otherwise, the system says one thing and the accounts say another.
No. An invoice validated by the system, with an index number and the Ministry of Finance's signature, is communicated to the recipient and can no longer be deleted, cancelled or amended. It is corrected under Article 330 of the Tax Code: through the full or partial reversal of the original invoice and the issue of a new, correct invoice, both transmitted through the same system.
No. A rejected invoice is not treated as transmitted and has not reached the recipient; the issuer receives the file with the identified errors. It is corrected directly and resubmitted, with the same number. The five-working-day deadline, however, runs from the original issue date, not from the first attempt, so the rejection extends nothing.
The reversal is a new document, with a new number from the series, with negative values and a mandatory reference to the original invoice. The correct invoice is another new document, with the correct values, usually referring to the original invoice. Each has its own five-working-day deadline from issue. Resubmitting the same invoice, with the same number and changed data, is not a correction and produces duplicates.
No. Changing the beneficiary is a different transaction, not a correction: the invoice issued to the wrong client is reversed in full and a new invoice is issued to the correct client. The wrong client must be told not to record it.
You cannot refuse it in the system and you cannot delete it. Notify the issuer in writing, ask for the reversal, do not record the invoice in your accounts and do not deduct the VAT on it, but keep the XML file as proof of the communication and the refusal. If the issuer does not reverse it, the invoice remains in the system as their document, not yours, and the correspondence is your defence.
The wrong invoice remains in the system and in the data that the tax authority compares against the return, SAF-T, and the partner's Declarația 394. An uncorrected wrong amount is a permanent mismatch; an invoice to the wrong client is a supply that they will not declare. On top of this comes VAT collected on an invoice that does not correspond to a transaction and, for the client, a deduction claimed on a wrong invoice.
Informative material, updated on 18 September 2026. It does not constitute legal or tax advice; individual situations must be assessed on their own facts.
If your company has received a notification or has an inspection under way, the related analyses are grouped under tax inspection. For the assistance provided to companies, see corporate taxation.
An initial discussion establishes, for each invoice, its status and the route to correction, what needs adjusting in the return and in SAF-T, and how invoices received by mistake should be documented so that they do not turn into mismatches at an inspection.