You work on a building site in Germany, in a hospital in England or picking fruit in Spain, with a contract and a salary there. You come home for the holidays and someone tells you that ANAF will want tax on all of it. The Tax Code says otherwise, clearly and for a long time now. But it also says what still needs to be declared, and that is where most people go wrong.
Under Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code, amounts or benefits received by individuals from employed activities carried out in a foreign state and paid by a non-resident employer are not taxable in Romania, regardless of the tax treatment applied in that state. The implementing rules, at Article 12(19), add that this income is not declared and is not subject to the foreign tax credit.
The rule has two conditions, both necessary: the activity is carried out abroad, and the salary is paid by a non-resident employer. If both are met, the answer to the question in the title is no, for the salary. Tax residence, other income, social contributions and, on your return, proof of where the money came from, all remain open. Each has its own answer.
The rule changes if the salary is paid by, or on behalf of, an employer resident in Romania or with a permanent establishment in Romania, the case of a Romanian employee posted (detașare) or temporarily assigned (delegare) abroad.
Under Article 12(20) to (22) of the implementing rules, the income is taxable in Romania if the period of presence in the foreign state does not exceed the period set out in the double taxation treaty with that state, usually 183 days within any 12-month period, and if the salary is not borne by a permanent establishment abroad of the employer. Beyond the treaty period, the income becomes taxable in the foreign state, and Romania grants a tax credit.
The practical difference is significant. A Romanian employee posted to France for six months by his company in Romania pays tax in Romania, as if he had worked at home. The same person, employed directly by a French company, owes nothing in Romania on that salary. The contract, not the place, decides.
Romanian tax residence is maintained through your domicile, an available home or the centre of your vital interests, no matter how many days you spend in another country. Family left at home, a flat kept on, accounts held in Romania, all maintain it. Someone working in Germany who returns to their family twice a year is, most often, a Romanian tax resident.
Residence does not tax the foreign salary, which is expressly excluded. But it requires you to declare your other worldwide income: rent for a flat in Romania let out while you are away, dividends from a company left behind, interest, gains from a broker, income from independent activities. These are declared through the Declarația unică (Form 212), Romania's single annual return for income tax and social contributions owed by individuals, by 25 May of the following year, whether earned in Romania or abroad, with a tax credit for tax paid in another state, under the terms of the treaty.
Anyone leaving for good, with their family, files the departure questionnaire, Form Z017, 30 days beforehand, and the tax authority decides whether they remain resident. If the destination state has a treaty with Romania and treats them as resident there too, the tie-breaker criteria settle it. If there is no treaty, the obligation to declare worldwide income in Romania continues for the year of departure and for the following three calendar years.
Social contributions follow Regulation (EC) No 883/2004: a person carrying out employed activity in a Member State is subject to the legislation of that state. The foreign employer withholds the contributions there, and the periods are aggregated, for pension purposes, with those in Romania. Nothing is owed in Romania on that salary.
The exceptions concern posting, activity in several states and special arrangements, attested by the A1 portable document. An employee posted by a company in Romania stays, with an A1, in the Romanian system. For states outside the Union, bilateral agreements apply; for the United Kingdom, the agreement with the European Union.
Savings from years of work abroad are legitimate and non-taxable money. Which does not mean they will not be questioned. On buying a flat or a car, on depositing sums into an account, the tax authority can compare your assets with your declared income, and the foreign salary, precisely because it is not declared, does not appear in its records.
Proof is made with employment contracts, payslips, bank statements from the state of work and, where they exist, the annual tax document issued there. All of it is kept, by year, even if nothing is filed. Transfers to Romania, through a bank, leave a trace and explain themselves; cash brought in luggage, above the customs thresholds, is declared at the border and stays without a history.
A personal tax situation review starts from significant differences between assets and income. Someone who has worked ten years abroad and buys a house usually has exactly such a difference in ANAF's records. A file of evidence prepared in advance closes it with a letter; the lack of one opens it into a procedure.
A non-resident employer or an employer in Romania. This is the question that decides whether the salary falls under the exclusion or under the treaty regime.
The activity physically carried out in the foreign state. Remote work from Romania for a foreign employer is a different matter and is taxed in Romania.
Domicile, home, family, the centre of vital interests. If you remain resident, you do not declare the salary, but you declare the rest of your worldwide income.
Rent, dividends, interest, gains, independent activities, from Romania or abroad. The Declarația unică by 25 May, with a tax credit for tax paid in another state.
In the state of work, withheld by the employer. If you are posted by a company in Romania, the A1 document keeps you in the Romanian system.
Contracts, payslips, statements, tax documents from the state of work, for each year. Kept for the day someone asks where the money came from.
The Z017 questionnaire 30 days beforehand, proof of residence in the new state, and care with states without a treaty, where the obligations continue for a further three years.
No, if it is paid by a non-resident employer for work abroad. The Declarația unică has no line for it, and no tax credit is claimed.
Residence remains through domicile and family. Rent from Romania, dividends and investments are still declared, and on your return proof of the money is required.
It is not the same thing. A resident employer changes the regime: tax in Romania below the treaty period, in the foreign state above it.
It is clean, but it appears nowhere in Romania. Without contracts and payslips, a personal tax situation review has no way of knowing that.
No. Under Article 76(4)(o) of the Tax Code and Article 12(19) of the implementing rules, amounts received from employed activities carried out in a foreign state and paid by a non-resident employer are not taxable in Romania, regardless of the tax treatment applied in that state, are not declared and are not subject to the foreign tax credit. The rule is the same for seasonal work.
Very probably, yes. Domicile, an available home and the centre of your vital interests maintain Romanian residence even if you work more than 183 days in another state. Residence does not tax your foreign salary, which is expressly excluded, but it requires you to declare your other worldwide income: rent, dividends, interest, gains, from Romania or abroad.
No. When the salary is paid by an employer resident in Romania, the income is taxable in Romania if presence in the foreign state does not exceed the period set out in the treaty with that state and is not borne by a permanent establishment abroad of the employer; beyond that period, it becomes taxable in the foreign state, with a tax credit in Romania. This is the regime under Article 12(20) to (22) of the implementing rules.
As a rule, in the state where you work, under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004. The foreign employer withholds them there. The exceptions, posting and activity in several states, are attested by the A1 portable document. Years worked in a Member State are aggregated for pension purposes with those in Romania.
Yes, as part of a personal tax situation review, if significant differences appear between income and assets. Salary earned abroad is a legitimate and non-taxable source, but it must be proven: contracts, payslips, statements, possibly the tax document from the state of work. Keep them, even if nothing is declared.
File the departure questionnaire, Form Z017, 30 days beforehand, with proof of your home and, where it exists, of residence in the foreign state. The tax authority decides whether you remain resident and notifies you. For states without a treaty, the obligation to declare worldwide income in Romania continues for the year of departure and for the following three years.
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 the situation involves income, accounts or residence in another country, the related analyses are grouped under the international tax analyses. For assistance on such matters, see international taxation.
An initial discussion establishes the salary's regime based on who pays it, what income still needs to be declared in Romania, and what file of evidence you need for the money you bring home.