The question already has ready-made answers online, most of them written for 2024, when dividend tax was 8% and the micro threshold was EUR 500,000. In 2026, dividend tax is 16%, the micro threshold is EUR 100,000, and CASS, the health insurance contribution, for the PFA (persoană fizică autorizată), the authorised sole-trader form, rises to up to 72 minimum wages. The comparison has to be redone from scratch, and the result depends on three figures of your own, not on a general rule.
For the PFA, net income is taxed at 10%, plus CASS, the health insurance contribution, at 10% on net income, between 6 and 72 minimum wages, and CAS, the state pension contribution, at 25% on the chosen base, if net income reaches 12 minimum wages. What is left is yours, with no further tax.
For the SRL (societate cu răspundere limitată), Romania’s limited-liability company, the company pays either 1% on revenue, if it remains a microîntreprindere, the reduced-rate company regime, or 16% on profit. Then, when the money is taken out as dividends, 16% tax is paid and, above the threshold, CASS at the bands of 6, 12 or 24 minimum wages. And if the shareholder is also a paid director, a condition of the micro regime, their remuneration carries tax and contributions like a salary. The comparison is made on the sum of all the layers, at the real income level, not on the rate of the first layer.
From 1 January 2026, dividend tax rose from 10% to 16%, after 8% in 2024 and 5% up to 2022. It is the SRL’s second layer, and it has tripled in four years. Any comparison using 8% or 10% is out of date.
The microîntreprindere threshold has fallen to EUR 100,000, from EUR 250,000 in 2025 and EUR 500,000 in 2024. An SRL that exceeds the threshold moves to 16% on profit, permanently, under the 2026 rules. The 1% rate on revenue, the classic argument for the SRL, is now available only below this threshold and subject to cumulative conditions.
The maximum ceiling of the CASS base for independent activities has risen from 60 to 72 minimum wages, that is, RON 291,600 in 2026. A PFA with a high net income pays up to RON 29,160 in CASS a year. It is the layer that makes the PFA more expensive at exactly the point where the SRL becomes competitive.
Income tax for the PFA remains 10% on net income, with the flat-rate income quota (normă de venit) available for the activities and taxpayers who qualify. It is the simplest layer and, at medium incomes, the cheapest in the whole picture.
At an annual net income of RON 60,000, the PFA pays income tax of RON 6,000, CASS of RON 6,000 on actual net income, and CAS at the base of 12 minimum wages, RON 12,150, if it reaches the threshold. The micro SRL pays 1% on gross revenue, then 16% on dividends and CASS at the band reached, plus the cost of paying the director at the level of the minimum wage, with tax and contributions. At this level, the PFA is usually cheaper, and it is simpler to administer.
At a net income of RON 200,000, the picture changes. The PFA pays RON 20,000 in income tax, RON 20,000 in CASS on actual income, and CAS at a chosen base of at least 24 minimum wages, RON 24,300. The micro SRL pays 1% on revenue, then 16% on dividends, and CASS on dividends stops at the ceiling of 24 minimum wages, RON 9,720. The difference in contributions becomes significant in the SRL’s favour, provided it stays under the micro threshold and bears the cost of a paid director.
At a net income of RON 400,000, with turnover above EUR 100,000, the SRL can no longer be a microîntreprindere and pays 16% on profit, then 16% on dividends: almost 30% combined on the amount taken out. The PFA pays 10% income tax, CASS capped at RON 29,160, and CAS at the chosen base. At high margins, the PFA becomes competitive again, and the SRL wins only if the profit stays in the company, reinvested, without being distributed.
The figures above are illustrative and leave out variables that change the result: deductible expenses, which are treated differently in the two forms, the flat-rate income quota, the person’s parallel income, which shifts the CASS bands, and administration costs. The real comparison is made on your own figures, with all the layers, for the current year and the following two.
The PFA is liable with the assets allocated to the activity (patrimoniul de afectațiune) and, beyond that, with the whole of personal assets. The SRL shareholder is, as a rule, liable only up to their capital contribution, with real exceptions: personal guarantees, director’s liability, joint and several liability for tax debts, insolvency. The limitation exists, but it is not absolute.
For the PFA under the actual-expenses system, deductible expenses are those incurred for the purpose of the activity, subject to specific limits. For the SRL, deductibility follows the profit tax rules, which are broader, but with the risk of personal expenses being reclassified as benefits in kind or disguised dividends. The car, the phone and the home office are treated differently under each form.
Both forms are exposed if the relationship with a single client resembles an employment relationship. A PFA dependent on a single beneficiary and an SRL with a single client and a single person are treated the same way by the tax authority, under the independence criteria. The form does not protect against reclassification; substance does.
The PFA is opened and closed simply, with single-entry bookkeeping. The SRL requires full accounting, financial statements, resolutions, monthly returns for the paid director, and dissolution and winding-up take months. The annual cost of administering an SRL is not negligible at low incomes.
Not turnover, but income after expenses, estimated for the current year and for the following two. The thresholds that matter, 12 and 24 minimum wages for CAS, 6 and 72 for CASS, EUR 100,000 for the micro regime, are measured against these figures.
The SRL has the second layer only on distribution. If the profit stays in the company, for investment or accumulation, the 16% layer on dividends is deferred, and the comparison changes. If you take everything out, every month, the layer applies in full.
The larger the deductible expenses, the more the form that treats them more favourably comes out ahead. The 6.25% margin that decides between micro and profit tax applies here too, in mirror image.
A single client, with set hours and subordination, means a risk of reclassification under either form. Several clients, with your own means and your own risk, means real independence, regardless of form.
An activity that carries a risk of loss to third parties, or that involves large contracts, calls for the separation of assets. Consultancy work covered by professional indemnity insurance can stay under the PFA without disproportionate exposure.
For CASS purposes, dividends are aggregated with rental income and investment income, across the bands of 6, 12 and 24 minimum wages. Income from the PFA has a separate base. A person with parallel income can reach the top band on one base and the ceiling of 72 on the other.
Accounting, monthly returns, financial statements, and a paid director for the SRL; for the PFA, simple record-keeping and the Declarația unică (Form 212), Romania’s single annual return for income tax and social contributions owed by individuals. The annual difference is added to the tax calculation, not ignored.
It pays 1% on revenue, then 16% on dividends, then CASS on dividends, then tax and contributions on the director’s remuneration. And only below EUR 100,000, subject to cumulative conditions.
The form does not signal seriousness to the tax authority or to large clients. It signals a tax regime and a liability regime. It is chosen on figures and on risk.
No. The independence criteria apply to the relationship, not to the form. An SRL with a single client and a single person carries the same exposure.
Dividend tax was 8% then, 16% now. The micro threshold was EUR 500,000 then, EUR 100,000 now. CASS for the PFA was 60 minimum wages then, 72 now. The calculation has to be redone every year.
It depends on income and margin, not on the form. At low and medium net incomes, the PFA usually pays less, because it has no second layer of tax when the money is taken out. At high incomes, the micro SRL, with 1% on revenue plus 16% on dividends, can be cheaper than the PFA, where CASS rises to up to 72 minimum wages. The calculation is made on real figures, with all three components: tax, contributions, the cost of taking the money out.
Three things. Dividend tax rose from 10% to 16%, which makes the SRL more expensive. The micro threshold fell to EUR 100,000, which pushes many SRLs out of the 1% regime and into 16% on profit. The maximum CASS ceiling for the PFA rose from 60 to 72 minimum wages, which makes the PFA more expensive at high incomes. The 2025 comparison no longer holds.
Yes. The PFA is liable for the obligations of its activity with patrimoniul de afectațiune, if one was set up, and, beyond that, with the whole of their personal assets. At the SRL, the shareholder’s liability is, as a rule, limited to their capital contribution, with the exceptions under company law, insolvency procedure, and the Tax Procedure Code for joint and several liability.
Yes, but not for the same activity with the same client, because the tax authority looks at substance: who actually performs the work and who is paid. Two parallel forms for the same commercial relationship raise the question of reclassification and of economic purpose.
As a rule, when net income consistently exceeds the level at which CASS on the PFA gets close to the maximum ceiling, when real expenses are high and deducted more favourably through a company, when you want to reinvest the profit without taking it out, or when limited liability matters for the nature of the activity. It is not worth it just because ‘a company sounds better’.
Yes, for the activities for which the Ministry of Finance publishes quotas, and for taxpayers with gross income below the statutory threshold in the previous year. Above the threshold, a move to the actual-expenses system is mandatory. The quota can be very advantageous at high margins, but it disappears exactly when income grows.
Informational material, updated on 18 September 2026. The figures are illustrative; this does not constitute legal or tax advice, and individual situations must be examined on a case-by-case basis.
If your company has received a notice or has an inspection under way, related analyses are grouped under tax inspections. For assistance provided to companies, see tax for companies.
An initial discussion sets out the three layers against your real figures, for the current year and the following two, and adds what does not show up in the calculation: liability, reclassification and the cost of administration.