In 2024, the threshold was 500,000 euros. In 2025, 250,000. In 2026, 100,000. The regime that was, for years running, the default form for small business in Romania has become a narrow one, with cumulative conditions checked quarterly and an exit with no way back. The question is no longer which rate applies, but whether you are still inside.
The revenue threshold for the microîntreprindere regime has fallen to the lei equivalent of 100,000 euros, checked at 31 December 2025 and cumulated with the revenue of related enterprises. The 3% rate was abolished by OUG nr. 89/2025; a single rate remains, of 1%, applied to revenue, quarterly.
The eligibility conditions remain cumulative: at least one full-time employee or a paid management or mandate agreement, capital held by individuals, not the state, no dissolution under way, financial statements filed, the share of consultancy and management income under 20%, and the 25% cap on members’ holdings in other microîntreprinderi. Failing any one of them moves the company to the 16% corporate income tax from the quarter of the breach, permanently.
The regime is set out in Title III of the Tax Code, Article 47 et seq. The changes of recent years have not altered its structure, but have progressively narrowed access to it.
The threshold was 500,000 euros up to 2024, 250,000 euros in 2025, and has been 100,000 euros since 2026. Each level was checked at 31 December of the previous year, at the exchange rate on the closing date of the financial year, which means companies only found out whether they were still a micro-company after the year had already ended.
The 3% rate, which applied to companies without an employee and to certain sectors, was abolished by OUG nr. 89/2025. OUG nr. 8/2026 brought a useful clarification: revenue from the sale of fixed assets and land is no longer taken into account when checking the threshold.
The wider context matters just as much. The dividend tax has reached 16% as of 2026, which changes the entire calculation of taking money out of the company. The micro regime can no longer be assessed on its own, but together with what happens on distribution.
The company’s revenue, cumulated with that of related enterprises, does not exceed 100,000 euros at 31 December of the previous year. The relationship is established under the criteria in SME legislation, and it is this cumulation that pushes most groups of small companies out of the regime.
At least one full-time employee, or a management or mandate agreement paid at least at the level of the minimum gross basic national wage, 4,050 lei in 2026. What was removed in 2026 is the rate difference based on having an employee, not the condition of having one.
Revenue from consultancy and management does not exceed 20% of total revenue, a condition checked every quarter. It is the threshold that hits one-person professional services companies squarely.
Members do not hold, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the capital of more than one microîntreprindere. A person with two companies under the threshold must choose one.
Share capital held by individuals, other than the state and administrative-territorial units; the company is not undergoing dissolution followed by liquidation; the annual financial statements have been filed. For qualification in 2026, the Ministry of Finance treated the filing condition as met if the statements were filed by 31 March 2026.
Banking, insurance and reinsurance, capital market activities, gambling, and the exploration and extraction of oil and gas deposits remain outside the regime, regardless of revenue.
Exceeding the threshold during the year, or failing to meet any of the conditions, triggers the move to the 16% corporate income tax starting with the quarter in which the breach occurred, with corporate income tax calculated from the start of that quarter.
The exit is final. A company that has left the regime, whether by exceeding the threshold or by failing to meet the conditions, can no longer opt back into it in later years, even if its revenue falls back under the threshold. This is the feature that turns an accidental breach, through one large contract collected in December, into a decision with a permanent effect.
For this reason, the threshold is tracked not at year end, but quarterly, with a projection of cumulated revenue, including that of related enterprises. A company approaching the threshold must decide, before reaching it, whether it wants to stay under it, with everything that entails, or whether moving to corporate income tax is, on its own figures, the better option.
The 1% applies to revenue, regardless of profitability. The 16% applies to profit, so it depends on margin. The theoretical break-even point is a margin of 6.25%: below it, corporate income tax costs less; above it, the micro regime does.
The real calculation is more complicated than the threshold, because corporate income tax comes with deductions, loss carry-forwards, and higher administrative costs, while the micro regime comes with conditions that can be lost at any time. But the direction is set by margin: a services company with a high margin remains better off under micro; a trading company with a low margin pays less under corporate income tax.
Added to this comparison, since 2026, is the 16% dividend tax, identical under both regimes, which means the difference plays out entirely at company level. And there is also the question of whether the company form is still, for that activity, better than operating as an authorised sole trader (persoană fizică autorizată), where the regime is entirely different.
The euro equivalent, at the exchange rate on the closing date of the financial year, of 2025 revenue is checked, excluding revenue from the sale of fixed assets and land. Above 100,000 euros, the company is on corporate income tax from 1 January 2026.
All related companies are identified, under the criteria in SME legislation, and their revenue is cumulated. The check is carried out on the actual ownership structure, not the presumed one.
Employee or paid director, capital, dissolution, financial statements, consultancy under 20%, holdings under 25% in other micro-companies, excluded sectors. Each one, separately, with the document proving it.
Cumulated revenue for 2026 is estimated quarter by quarter, including large contracts expected. The quarter in which the threshold is reached is the quarter of exit.
On the company’s own figures, with the real margin, the deductions, and the administrative costs of each regime. If the result favours corporate income tax, the exit is no longer a threat, but an option.
Staying under the threshold, if that is what is wanted, is planned before reaching it. Moving to corporate income tax, if preferred, is prepared for in the accounts before the quarter in which it takes effect.
The micro-company revenue tax return, quarterly, for as long as the regime applies; the corporate income tax return from the quarter of exit; the amendments changing the tax vector, filed on time. An exit not declared on time generates late-payment charges (accesorii: interest and penalties) under both regimes.
The exit operates from the quarter of the breach, calculated from its start. By year end, it is already three quarters too late.
The revenue of related enterprises is cumulated, and a member cannot hold more than 25% in more than one micro-company. Two companies under the threshold do not make two micro-companies.
What was abolished was the 3% rate for companies without an employee, not the condition itself. Without an employee or a paid director, the regime does not apply at all.
The exit is final. Exceeding the threshold through a single large contract is a permanent decision, often made without being noticed.
No. Qualification for 2026 is checked at 31 December 2025, at the exchange rate on the closing date of the financial year, and the threshold is 100,000 euros. Exceeding it on that date means corporate income tax from 1 January 2026.
It depends on two separate rules. The revenue of related enterprises is cumulated when checking the threshold, and a member cannot hold more than 25% of the capital of more than one microîntreprindere. Two companies belonging to the same person, each under the threshold, do not amount to two microîntreprinderi.
The condition of having a full-time employee can also be met through a management or mandate agreement, paid at least at the level of the minimum gross basic national wage. Without either of these, the micro regime does not apply.
From the quarter in which the threshold was exceeded, so from the fourth quarter, with corporate income tax calculated from the start of that quarter. The exit is final: the company can no longer return to the micro regime in later years.
Only if revenue from consultancy and management does not exceed 20% of total revenue, a condition checked quarterly. Above this share, the company exits the regime from that quarter.
No. From 1 January 2026, under OUG nr. 89/2025, only one rate remains, of 1%, regardless of sector or number of employees. The difference that matters now is not between rates, but between the micro regime and the 16% corporate income tax.
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 your company has received a notification or has an inspection under way, the related analyses are grouped under tax inspection. For the assistance provided to companies, see corporate taxation.
An initial discussion checks the qualification against the real figures, including related enterprises, compares the two regimes on the company’s margin, and sets the timing and form of the decision, before the quarter makes it for you.