You may be picking strawberries in Huelva, working in construction in Madrid or in hotels on the coast, with an NIE, with IRPF withheld by your employer and with contributions paid to the Seguridad Social. For ANAF, Romania’s national tax administration, the address on your identity card and your house back home can mean that you are still a Romanian tax resident, with everything that follows from that.
Salary received for work actually performed in Spain and paid by a Spanish employer is not taxable in Romania and is not declared here (Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code).
Both conditions matter: the work in Spain and the non-resident employer. Contracts concluded through Romanian recruitment agencies, postings and periods worked from Romania must be looked at separately, because there the rule may change.
ANAF automatically receives data from Spain and compares it with its own records. If your domicile is recorded in Romania, the result may be a notice or a tax assessment decision (decizie de impunere) for income tax, CAS (the state pension contribution) and CASS (the health insurance contribution), even if IRPF and social security contributions were withheld in Spain. Such a decision should be challenged in time, by administrative appeal (contestație), with the Spanish documents.
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 Agencia Tributaria therefore sends Bucharest data on the income of people whose address is recorded 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).
Nobody needs to request this data. It reaches ANAF automatically, and ANAF compares it with its own records. If your domicile is recorded in Romania and there is no explanation for your income from Spain, the system generates a notice.
You usually have them already, or you can obtain them online. Keep them for each year worked.
The annual certificate from your employer, showing the salary paid and the IRPF withheld. The basic evidence for each year worked.
Monthly payslips, showing the Spanish employer and the Seguridad Social deductions.
The income tax return filed in Spain, if you filed one. It shows that Spain treated you as a tax resident.
The certificate of tax residence issued by the Agencia Tributaria, which can be requested online. It is the document that carries the most weight before ANAF.
Registration with the Spanish town hall. It shows your address and how long you have lived there, without deciding tax residence on its own.
Your record of employment and of contributions to the Seguridad Social. It answers directly any claim for CAS or CASS in Romania.
Spain regards as a tax resident a person who stays in Spanish territory for more than 183 days in a calendar year or who has the main centre of their activities or economic interests in Spain. Spanish law also presumes that you are resident there if your spouse, from whom you are not separated, and your minor children habitually live in Spain. Romania regards you as resident if you keep your domicile or your centre of vital interests here (Article 7(28) of the Tax Code).
Where both states regard you as resident, the double tax treaty between Romania and Spain, signed in 2017 and in force since 2022, decides through its tie-breaker rules. A family that has moved entirely to Spain is, as a rule, a strong argument. A seasonal worker whose family remains at home is, as a rule, resident in Romania, and then what matters is strictly whether the conditions of the salary exemption are met. See also dual residence.
For employees within the European Union, the legislation of the state in which the work is performed applies, under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004. The contributions withheld by the Spanish employer cover pension and health, and no CAS or CASS is due in Romania on the same salary.
The informe de vida laboral shows, year by year, where you were insured. If you worked in Spain as a worker posted by a Romanian company, with the A1 document, contributions remain in Romania and the situation is analysed differently.
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 IRPF and social security contributions paid in Spain. What was paid there must be proved.
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 Spain may be treated as unjustified income, taxable at 70%, if their origin is not proved.
I work with Romanians in Spain 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, where necessary, before the Romanian courts.
We talk by telephone, on WhatsApp or by video call, in real time, and documents are sent electronically. You obtain the Spanish documents yourself, from your employer, the Agencia Tributaria or the Seguridad Social, many of them online; I tell you exactly what is needed.
I carry out the analysis as a lawyer, tax adviser and forensic tax expert, so that the legal defence and the calculation are checked together.
No. Salary paid by a Spanish employer for work performed in Spain is neither declared nor taxed in Romania (Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code). However, keep the certificado de retenciones for each year.
Seasonal salary paid by the Spanish employer benefits from the same exemption, even if you remain a Romanian tax resident. The risk arises where the contract or the payment went through Romania, or where you cannot prove the period worked; nóminas and the vida laboral usually resolve the problem.
Legally, not on the same salary, under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004. If ANAF nevertheless issues a decision, it is appealed with the informe de vida laboral.
Spanish law presumes you to be resident in Spain when your spouse and minor children live there. If ANAF also regards you as a Romanian resident, the Romania-Spain double tax treaty decides, and a family that has moved to Spain is, as a rule, an important argument.
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 countriesSalary 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 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 British employer for work performed in the United Kingdom is not taxed in Romania, but self-employed income is treated differently. The new 2026 tax treaty, P60, SA302 and a defence conducted remotely.
Read the analysisSend me the document on WhatsApp or by e-mail. An initial analysis shows what can be challenged and which Spanish documents are needed.