You work in care in Bavaria, in construction in Berlin or in logistics in the Rhineland, with a Steuer-ID, with Lohnsteuer withheld monthly and with contributions to the Sozialversicherung. If your identity card still shows your Romanian address and your family is at home, ANAF, Romania’s national tax administration, may continue to treat you as a Romanian tax resident and may claim tax from you for years in which you have already paid in Germany.
Salary received for work actually performed in Germany and paid by a German employer is excluded from taxation in Romania and is not declared here (Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code).
The two conditions are checked for each year: physical work in Germany and payment by the German employer. If you were posted by a Romanian company or worked part of the time from home, in Romania, the situation is analysed differently.
Problems arise because ANAF automatically receives data from Germany and compares it with its own records, in which you may be recorded as domiciled in Romania. That comparison gives rise to notices and, sometimes, to tax assessment decisions (decizie de impunere) for tax, CAS and CASS. They do not automatically take into account what you paid to the Finanzamt or to the German insurance funds; you have to show it yourself.
It is a common misconception that the Romanian tax authorities do not know what a Romanian earns abroad. Between EU Member States, tax administrations automatically exchange, year after year, information on salaries, directors’ fees, life insurance and immovable property, under Directive 2011/16/EU (DAC1). The German tax administration thus sends Bucharest data on the income of persons recorded with an address in Romania.
On top of this comes the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS): banks in more than 100 jurisdictions report the accounts of non-residents, with balances, interest, dividends and sale proceeds. In 2022, data on 111 million accounts was exchanged through this mechanism. Digital platforms report sellers’ income (DAC7), and from 2026 data on crypto-assets is also collected (DAC8).
No one has to request this data. It reaches ANAF automatically, and ANAF compares it with its own records. If you are recorded as domiciled in Romania and there is no explanation for your income from Germany, the system generates a notice.
Germany produces a great many documents, and many of them are exactly the evidence you need. Keep them for each year.
The annual wage tax certificate, sent electronically by the employer to the Finanzamt and handed to you, usually by the end of February. It shows the gross salary, the Lohnsteuer and the contributions.
Monthly payslips. They prove the period worked and the German employer, month by month.
The tax assessment issued by the Finanzamt, if you filed a Steuererklärung. It confirms that Germany taxed you as a resident.
The certificate of tax residence issued, on request, by the Finanzamt. It is the central evidence when ANAF raises the question of residence.
Proof that your address in Germany has been registered (Anmeldung). It shows where you live, without by itself determining tax residence.
Your insurance record with the Deutsche Rentenversicherung. It answers any claim for CAS in Romania for the same years.
Germany considers as a tax resident anyone who has a dwelling there (Wohnsitz) or their habitual abode there (gewöhnlicher Aufenthalt), the latter being presumed after a stay of more than six months. Romania considers you resident if you keep your domicile or your centre of vital interests here (Article 7(28) of the Tax Code), however many months you spend abroad.
The conflict is resolved by the double tax treaty between Romania and Germany, signed in 2001 and applicable from 2004, through its tie-breaker criteria: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality. A worker who lives in rented accommodation in Germany but whose wife, children and house are in Romania is often treated by ANAF as a Romanian resident. The outcome depends on the evidence, and the tie-breaker can be argued.
For employees in the European Union, Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 applies the legislation of the state in which the work is performed. The German employer withholds pension, health, unemployment and long-term care contributions, and no CAS or CASS is due in Romania on the same salary.
Short-term seasonal work (kurzfristige Beschäftigung) may be exempt from contributions in Germany. That does not turn the salary into a contribution base in Romania, but the situation must be documented, because it is precisely these cases that give rise to questions. Posting by a Romanian company, with the A1 document, keeps you in the Romanian system.
ANAF’s right to assess taxes is, as a rule, time-barred after 5 years, counted from 1 July of the year following the year for which the tax is due (Article 110 of the Tax Procedure Code). Where the obligation arises from acts that constitute criminal offences, the law provides for a 10-year period.
The decision may include income tax and social contributions, calculated as if the income had been earned in Romania, without automatically taking into account the tax paid to the Finanzamt and the German contributions. What was paid there must be proven.
Interest and late-payment penalties are added for every day from the due date until payment, so the amount grows with each year reviewed.
A decision that is not appealed in time can be enforced, including by garnishment (poprire) of accounts in Romania and by measures against assets held here.
When you buy a house or make large deposits into an account, savings from Germany may be treated as unjustified income, taxable at 70%, if their source is not proven.
I work with Romanians in Germany remotely. The legal assistance agreement is signed without any travel and, under a lawyer’s power of attorney (împuternicire avocațială), I represent you before ANAF and, where necessary, before the Romanian courts.
We communicate by telephone, on WhatsApp or by video call, in real time. You request the German documents yourself from your employer, the Finanzamt or the Deutsche Rentenversicherung; I tell you exactly what to request and for which years.
I analyse each file as a lawyer, tax adviser and forensic tax expert, so that the legal argument and the tax calculation are checked together.
No. Salary paid by the German employer for work in Germany is not declared or taxed in Romania (Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code). Keep the Lohnsteuerbescheinigung for each year, however, for the day ANAF asks you about it.
Salary for seasonal work in Germany, paid by the German employer, benefits from the same exemption. Because the period is short and residence usually remains in Romania, ANAF may ask about this income; the contract and the Lohnsteuerbescheinigung are the answer.
Legally, not on the same salary, under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004. If ANAF nonetheless issues a decision, it is challenged by administrative appeal (contestație) with the German insurance documents.
Both states probably consider you resident. The Romanian-German treaty decides, on the basis of permanent home and centre of vital interests. When your family is in Romania, the position must be built carefully, with evidence from both countries.
Yes. The engagement is signed remotely, I represent you under a lawyer’s power of attorney (împuternicire avocațială), and our discussions take place by telephone, on WhatsApp or by video call.
Information material, updated on 3 October 2026. It does not constitute legal or tax advice; individual situations must be analysed on their own facts.
The analyses for Romanians who have moved abroad are grouped in the section Romanians living abroad, where you will also find all the countries. The general rule for salary income is explained in Working abroad, and for a specific situation see assistance for Romanians living abroad.
Italy, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, the United States and Canada, the United Arab Emirates and offshore companies.
See all countriesAustrian salary is not taxed in Romania, but 24-hour care carried out as an independent activity is treated differently. Lohnzettel, Einkommensteuerbescheid, SVS and a defence conducted remotely.
Read the analysisSalary paid by a Dutch employer or a temporary employment agency for work performed in the Netherlands is not taxed in Romania. Jaaropgaaf, aanslag, BRP or RNI and a defence conducted remotely.
Read the analysisSalary paid by an Italian employer for work performed in Italy is not taxed in Romania, but ANAF can issue decisions covering the last 5 years. The Italian documents that matter and a defence conducted remotely.
Read the analysisSend me the notice or the decision on WhatsApp or by e-mail. I will tell you what can be challenged and which German documents are needed.