You work as a carer in Turin, on a building site in Rome or in agriculture in Puglia, under an Italian contract, and your tax and contributions are withheld in Italy. For ANAF, Romania’s national tax administration, however, if your identity card still shows your Romanian address, you may continue to be treated as a Romanian tax resident. This is the origin of the notices and decisions claiming tax on income on which you have already paid in Italy.
Under Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code, salary received for work actually performed in Italy and paid by an Italian employer is not taxable in Romania and is not declared here.
The exemption has two conditions: the work is physically performed in Italy, and the payer is a non-resident employer. If either of them is missing or cannot be proven, for example because you worked from Romania for part of the year or were paid by a Romanian company, the rule changes.
In practice, ANAF does not start from your contract, but from the data it receives automatically from Italy and from the fact that you are recorded as domiciled in Romania. The result may be a notice or a tax assessment decision (decizie de impunere) for income tax and, sometimes, for CAS and CASS, even if you have already paid them in Italy. Such a decision does not become final if it is challenged by administrative appeal (contestație) in time and with evidence.
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 Agenzia delle Entrate 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 Italy, the system generates a notice.
In most cases you already have the documents that show where you worked and where you paid. What matters is that you keep them for each year.
The annual document issued by the employer, usually by 16 March, showing the income paid and the tax and contributions withheld in Italy. It is the main evidence for your salary.
Monthly payslips. They show the period worked, the employer and the IRPEF and INPS deductions, month by month.
The income tax return filed in Italy, if you filed one. It confirms that Italy treated you as an Italian tax resident.
The certificate of tax residence issued, on request, by the Agenzia delle Entrate. It is the document that carries the most weight before ANAF when residence is in issue.
Proof of registration with the Italian municipality (anagrafe). It shows since when you have lived there, but does not by itself determine tax residence.
The record of contributions paid in Italy. It answers directly any claim for CAS or CASS in Romania for the same years.
Since 2024, Italy has considered as a tax resident a person who, for the greater part of the year, has their residence or domicile in Italy, domicile being understood as the place where their personal and family relationships are mainly conducted, or who is physically present there. Registration with the anagrafe has become only a presumption, which can be rebutted. Romania, for its part, considers you resident if you keep your domicile or your centre of vital interests here (Article 7(28) of the Tax Code).
When both states consider you resident, the matter is decided by the double tax treaty between Romania and Italy, the 2015 treaty, through its tie-breaker criteria: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality. Someone whose family, home and life are in Italy has strong arguments. Someone whose spouse and children are in Romania, and who has only their job in Italy, is in a more difficult position and has a more careful analysis to make.
For employees in the European Union, Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 provides that the social security legislation of the state in which the work is performed applies. The contributions withheld by the Italian employer and paid to INPS cover your pension and health insurance, and no CAS or CASS is due in Romania on the same salary.
The exception is posting: if a Romanian company sent you to Italy with the A1 document, you remain in the Romanian system. For carers employed directly by Italian families, contributions are likewise paid to INPS, through the employer, and the INPS statement is the evidence that settles the matter.
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 and contributions paid in Italy. 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 Italy may be treated as unjustified income, taxable at 70%, if their source is not proven.
I work with Romanians in Italy without their having to travel to Romania. The legal assistance agreement is signed remotely and, under a lawyer’s power of attorney (împuternicire avocațială), I represent you before ANAF and, if necessary, before the Romanian courts.
We speak by telephone, on WhatsApp or by video call, in real time, and documents are sent scanned or photographed. You obtain the Italian documents yourself, from your employer, from INPS or from the Agenzia delle Entrate; I tell you exactly which ones are needed in your situation and in what form.
I carry out the analysis in the three capacities I hold: lawyer, tax adviser and forensic tax expert. The legal argument and the calculation are checked together, before any reply to ANAF.
No. Salary paid by an Italian employer for work performed in Italy is not taxed and is not declared in Romania (Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code). You must, however, be able to prove the two conditions, with your contract, the Certificazione Unica and your payslips.
Do not ignore it and do not pay before it has been analysed. A tax assessment decision can be challenged only within a limited period, and the arguments are built on the Italian documents and on the treaty between Romania and Italy. Send me the decision and I will tell you on what grounds it can be challenged.
Legally, not on the same salary: contributions are due in the state in which you work, under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004. In practice, ANAF may nonetheless issue a decision, and it must be challenged with the INPS contribution statement.
The address on your identity card matters to ANAF, but it does not settle the matter on its own. When both states consider you resident, the Romanian-Italian treaty decides, on the basis of permanent home and centre of vital interests. The answer depends on where your family, home and life are.
Yes. The engagement is signed remotely, I represent you before ANAF and the Romanian courts under a lawyer’s power of attorney (împuternicire avocațială), and we communicate 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 countriesSalary paid by a Spanish employer for work performed in Spain is not taxed in Romania, but ANAF can issue decisions covering the last 5 years. Certificado de residencia fiscal, vida laboral and a defence conducted remotely.
Read the analysisSalary paid by a French employer for work performed in France is not taxed in Romania, but ANAF can issue decisions covering the last 5 years. The French documents that matter and a defence conducted remotely.
Read the analysisSalary paid by a German employer for work performed in Germany is not taxed in Romania, but ANAF can issue decisions covering the last 5 years. Lohnsteuerbescheinigung, Ansässigkeitsbescheinigung and a defence conducted remotely.
Read the analysisSend me the document on WhatsApp or by e-mail. An initial analysis shows whether the decision can be challenged and which Italian documents are needed.