You work through an uitzendbureau in warehouses, in greenhouses, in meat processing or in logistics, with accommodation arranged by the agency and contracts lasting a few months. Many keep their home and family in Romania and return between contracts. That is precisely why ANAF, Romania’s national tax administration, may continue to treat them as Romanian tax residents.
Salary received for work actually performed in the Netherlands and paid by a Dutch employer is not taxable in Romania and is not declared here (Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code). The Dutch temporary employment agency is, legally, the employer.
The exemption also applies to a person who remains a Romanian tax resident, provided that the work is physically performed in the Netherlands and the payer is a non-resident. The position changes if the agency is Romanian and sends you to the Netherlands as a posted worker, or if you worked in Romania for part of the year.
ANAF starts from the data it receives automatically from the Netherlands and from your domicile in Romania. With short contracts, several agencies and breaks spent at home, the file easily becomes complicated, and a tax assessment decision (decizie de impunere) is challenged year by year and contract by contract, with the Dutch documents.
It is a common misconception that the Romanian tax authorities do not know what a Romanian earns abroad. Between the Member States of the Union, tax administrations automatically exchange information every year on salaries, directors’ fees, life insurance and immovable property, under Directive 2011/16/EU (DAC1). The Dutch tax administration (Belastingdienst) therefore 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 the Netherlands, the system generates a notice.
With several agencies in the same year, the documents come from several places. Keep them for each contract and for each year.
The annual statement from the employer or the agency, showing the salary paid and the tax withheld (loonheffing). It is the main evidence for each year.
Payslips, weekly or monthly. They show the agency, the period worked and the deductions.
The Dutch tax assessment, if you filed an income tax return. It confirms the tax determined in the Netherlands.
The Dutch certificate of tax residence, issued on request by the Belastingdienst. The document that carries the most weight when ANAF questions your residence.
Registration in the municipal population register (BRP) shows a long-term stay. Registration in the RNI, the register of non-residents, shows a short stay and tends rather to support Romanian residence.
Your employment and insurance history in the Netherlands, from your Mijn UWV account. It answers Romanian claims for CAS, the state pension contribution, or CASS, the health insurance contribution, for the same periods.
The Netherlands determines tax residence on the basis of all the circumstances, according to your lasting ties with the country: home, family, work. Romania treats you as resident if you keep your domicile or the centre of your vital interests here (Article 7(28) of the Tax Code).
For someone who works a few months a year in the Netherlands, with accommodation provided by the agency, and returns to family in Romania, residence as a rule remains here. That does not make the Dutch salary taxable in Romania, if the conditions for the exemption are met. When both states treat you as resident, the matter is decided by the treaty between Romania and the Netherlands, applicable since 2000. See also dual residence.
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 applies the social security legislation of the state in which the work is performed. For the salary paid by the Dutch agency, contributions are paid in the Netherlands, and no CAS or CASS is due in Romania on the same salary.
For the months spent at home between contracts, with no income, the question of CASS falls under the Romanian rules for persons without income. Workers posted through Romanian agencies, with the A1 document, remain insured in Romania.
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 though the income had been earned in Romania, without automatically taking account of the tax and contributions paid in the Netherlands. 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 the Netherlands may be treated as unjustified income, taxable at 70%, if their source is not proved.
I work with Romanians in the Netherlands without their having to come to Romania. The legal assistance agreement is signed remotely. Under a lawyer’s power of attorney (împuternicire avocațială), I represent you before ANAF and, if necessary, before the courts in Romania.
We talk by telephone, on WhatsApp or by video call, in real time. You download the Dutch documents from Mijn Belastingdienst and Mijn UWV, or request them from the agency. I tell you exactly which ones are needed for each year.
I carry out the analysis as a lawyer, tax adviser and forensic tax expert. For years with several agencies and periods spent in Romania, the month-by-month reconstruction is what decides the administrative appeal (contestație).
No. Salary paid by a Dutch agency for work in the Netherlands is not declared and not taxed in Romania (Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code). Keep the jaaropgaaf from each agency, for each year.
Registration in the RNI shows a short stay and, as a rule, supports tax residence in Romania. For the Dutch salary, this does not change the exemption, provided the work was performed in the Netherlands and the payer is Dutch.
The payer is Romanian, so the exemption for non-resident employers does not apply in the same form, and the tax is allocated under the treaty. Contributions as a rule remain in Romania, on the basis of the A1 document.
Do not pay before an analysis and do not let the deadline for the appeal pass. We reconstruct the years contract by contract and agency by agency, with the Dutch documents, and challenge whatever is not owed.
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 Belgian employer for work performed in Belgium is not taxed in Romania. Posted workers and the self-employed are subject to different rules. Fiche 281.10, the avertissement-extrait de rôle 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 analysisSalary paid by a Danish employer for work performed in Denmark is not taxed in Romania, but ANAF can issue decisions covering the last 5 years. Årsopgørelse, eIndkomst, ATP 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 Dutch documents are needed.