eInvoicing Documentation
eInvoicing in Romania
Legislation
Directive 2014/55/EU has been transposed through the Law 199/2020 on electronic invoicing in public procurement, on 8 September 2020.
The Fiscal Code, in force from 1st of January 2016, and its implementing rules approved by Law 227/2015 are governing the electronic invoicing (eInvoicing) in Romania.
Law no. 296/2023 regarding fiscal-budgetary measures to ensure the financial sustainability of Romania in the long term, established the B2B mandate in Romania from 1 January 2024. The mandate is for taxable persons established in Romania or for Taxable persons non-established in Romania who are registered in Romania for VAT purposes.
Additional legislation may apply if electronic signature (eSignature) or electronic archiving (eArchiving) is used in the process of electronic invoicing:
- Law 455/2001 on electronic signature;
- Law 135/2007on electronic archiving of documents;
- Law 139/2022approving Government Ordinance 120/2021 created the legal framework for the operationalisation of the national eInvoicing system (RO e-Factura), establishing clear rules regarding the structure of the electronic invoice in accordance with the European eInvoicing standard.
During June-July 2024, the Romanian Ministry of Finance issued new pieces of legislation to expand the country's eInvoicing mandate to include business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions as well as to introduce the RO e-VAT system and some modifications in the structure of the fiscal receipts:
Key points of the ordinances include:
B2C eInvoicing Implementation: Starting 1 July 2024, businesses can optionally submit B2C invoices through the RO-e Factura system, which will become mandatory on 1 January 2025. Exceptions are simplified invoices which continue to be transmitted via traditional means;
Clarification regarding B2B Invoices for which submission to the national Ro e-Invoice system is mandatory: self invoices and invoices issued by enforcement bodies including judicial executors on behalf of suppliers, taxable persons established in Romania (special register will be created for such cases);
Clarification regarding certain B2B operators - small taxpayers, non-profit organisations and other entities that have until 1 July 2025 to comply with the RO e-Factura obligations (i.e. Associations, foundations that perform economic activities and farmers under the special regime, cultural institutes/centres of other states that operate on the territory of Romania based on intergovernmental agreements).
Clarifications regarding B2B invoices for which submission to the national RO e-Invoice system is not mandatory:
- Supplies outside the scope of VAT or in case of invoices issued which are not included in the taxable base and there is no obligation to issue an invoice.
- Supplies in favour of diplomatic missions/international organisations (including diplomatic missions and consular offices, the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community, the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank, the European Commission, and other international organisations, as well as NATO member states' armed forces).
National Information System RO e-VAT: Set to be implemented by 1 August 2024, the system will provide taxpayers with pre-filled in VAT returns and further transmit a Notification for compliance to the latter (20 days legal deadline for response). The differences identified as well as the explanations provided as a response to the Notification for compliance will be used for computing the taxpayer's risk analysis. However, this will be used for such purposes as of 1 January 2025, date starting which also penalties will be applied in case explanations are not provided or only partially provided in the legal deadline.
Invoice Submission Deadline: Invoices must be submitted to the RO e-Invoice system within five calendar days from the invoice issuance date but no later than five calendar days from the deadline provided for invoice issuance as per art. 319 para. (16) from Law 227 /2015 with subsequent amendments and additions.
Cash Registers: The fiscal receipt issued by the electronic cash register should include the fiscal identification code of the beneficiary, upon his request, the unit of measure, as well as the identification number of the receipt. Elements such as the time, date, and receipt number should be in QR format. In case of technical difficulties, an implementation extension of up to two years is possible.
eInvoicing platform and management solutions
The RO e-Invoicing platform (RO e-Factura) has been available since November 2021 for both the exchange of invoices with public administrations (B2G) and between private companies (B2B). The platform is available for issuing and receiving invoices. Electronic invoices must be generated in accordance with the RO_CIUS specifications.
Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices
Economic operators are free to choose their preferred service provider to submit eInvoices to contracting authorities.
Government Ordinance 120/2021, released in October 2021, establishes an operational framework for the national eInvoicing system. Order no. 1366/2021, from 5 November 2021 approves the technical specifications and the basic elements of the electronic invoice format RO_CIUS at a countrywide level.
In the case of B2B eInvoicing, Government Ordinance 130/2021 introduced mandatory issuance as of July 2022 for companies whose activity is linked to product categories considered high tax risk (susceptible to tax evasion). These categories are defined in the National Tax Authority of Romania (ANAF) 12/2022 Ordinance published on 6 January 2022. Fruit and vegetables, alcohol, construction, mineral products, clothing and footwear, are among the categories of companies considered susceptible to tax evasion.
The implementation of electronic invoicing for all B2B transactions has been made mandatory as of 2024. Law no. 296/2023 has established the B2B mandate for taxable persons established in Romania, regardless of whether they are registered for VAT purposes or not, and taxable persons not established in Romania but registered for VAT purposes. The submission shall be done in the RO e-Factura system, regardless of whether or not the recipients are registered in the RO e-Invoice Register.
Law 296/2023 established that from 1st July 2024 invoices must be sent to the RO e-Factura system within five calendar days from the issuance of the eInvoice but no later than 5 business/calendar days from the deadline provided for the invoice issuance in art. 319 paragraph (16) from Law no. 227/2015 with subsequent amendments and additions, for B2B transactions. For non-compliance with this provision, contravention fines will be applied depending on the taxpayer category of the issuer, as follows:
- from RON 5 000 to RON 10 000 for large taxpayers;
- from RON 2 500 RON to RON 5 000 for medium taxpayers;
- from RON 1 000 RON to RON 2 500 for other legal entities and individuals.
From 1st July 2024, the issuer's failure to transmit the invoice to the national RO e-Invoice system, as well as the receipt and registration by the recipients - taxable persons established in Romania according to art. 266 paragraph (2) of the Fiscal Code - of an invoice issued by economic operators established in Romania and economic operators not established in Romania, but registered for VAT purposes in Romania, in the B2B relationship, without complying with the provisions of art. 10, paragraph (1) will result in a fine equal to 15% of the total value of the invoice. The fine system was originally enacted by Law 296/2023, but some provisions, including the fine system, were subsequently taken over through Emergency Ordinance 115/2023 as amendments to Emergency Ordinance 120/2021, which regulates RO e-Factura national system.
eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities
The B2G approach applies at a countrywide level.
Monitoring mechanism
The monitoring is implemented at the central level within the system RO e-Factura.
Status on the implementation of the European Standard on eInvoicing (EN)
The transposition of the European standard was done in 2018 by ASRO. In conformity with Law 355/2002, the Romanian Government granted ASRO governmental recognition as a National Standardisation Body developing standardisation activities in all fields of European and international standardisation as member of ISO, the IEC, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI[1].
As a bottom-up action, the adoption of the EN standard is promoted by the Romanian IT industry (Cluj IT Cluster).
Use of Core Invoicing Usage Specifications (CIUS) at national level
The Minister of Finance Order no. 1366/2021 approved the CIUS (RO_CIUS) for eInvoicing and specific operational rules applicable at the national level, in compliance with the European standard for eInvoicing.
Digital reporting requirements
In November 2021, the ANAF published Order no. 1783/04.11.2021 regarding the implementation of the Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T) system, requiring taxpayers to file Informative Statement D406 (SAF-T) as follows:
- For large taxpayers: 1 January 2022;
- For taxpayers classified as large taxpayers beginning January 2022: 1 July 2022;
- For medium taxpayers: 1 January 2023;
- For small taxpayers: 1 January 2025;
- For newly registered taxpayers: from the effective date of registration.
Additional information
On 11 April 2022, the Romanian Ministry of Finance implemented the RO e-Transport electronic system for tracking the road transportation of high-tax risk goods through Government Ordinance 41/2022. This introduces a mandatory Transport system to monitor specific goods. The e-Transport is connected to the existing systems of the Ministry of Finance, ANAF, and/or the Romanian Customs Authority. Taxpayers must declare the transportation of high-risk products three days before the start of shipment. The system then generates a unique code that must accompany the goods. The deadline to comply with this mandate was originally set on 1 July 2022. However, it was postponed until 1 January 2023.
To facilitate the implementation of the mandate, the ANAF published the technical documentation for the e-Transport system including the XSD schema, the XML structure, APIs, as well as samples files of the XML, schema, and validation sheets.
[1] (ISO – Romania Membership: Member body, 2023)
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Last updated: Jul 22, 2024 11:25