In certain cases, companies have to or choose to apply for the VAT registration in Romania. The procedure is very formalistic. Below you may find a summary of the main topics of the VAT registration for taxpayers headquartered in Romania.

The common registration for VAT purposes

Companies shall register for VAT purposes when the threshold for small-sized companies (annual turnover of 300.000 RON) is exceeded. The legal term for the filing is of 10 days following the end of the month in which the threshold was exceeded. For companies not exceeding such threshold, the registration for VAT purposes is optional.

The filing of an application with the Romanian Tax Authority (ANAF) is required. Based on such application, additional information has to be provided to ANAF in order to fulfill the criteria applied by the Romanian Tax Authority (ANAF) for the assessment of the fiscal risks of tax payers. The most important criteria refer to the following:

• Corporate seat: a virtual office, a seat declared at a lawyer/ fiscal adviser, as well as a lease agreement for the corporate seat of less than one year represent an increased fiscal risk;
• Insolvency, entries in the tax clearance certificate: if (i) a shareholder and/or managing director of the applicant was shareholder and/or managing director in a company subject to insolvency or bankruptcy procedures or (ii) the shareholder, managing director or applicant themselves have personal records in the tax clearance certificate, this will pose problems for the risk assessment of the applicant;
• Share capital, fiscal residence of the shareholder/ managing director: in case the share capital lies above RON 45,000 and at least one managing director is a Romanian citizen, there will be a lower risk related to the tax payer;
• Further aspects: a current active bank account, as well as employees of the applicant, represent further criteria indicating the intention to carry out commercial activities and lower the fiscal risks.

Special registration for VAT purposes

Tax payers requiring a VAT registration for intra-community transactions (irrespective if the application is mandatory or optional) can initiate a “special” registration for VAT purposes.

The procedure hereof is similar to the common procedure for obtaining the VAT number, although the VAT number will be valid exclusively for intra-community transactions and not for transactions carried out in Romania. However, no risk assessment is performed.

Please find more detailed information at:

https://stalfort.ro/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210412_SM_Registration_for_VAT_purposes_in_Romania_.pdf