Foreign companies or individuals, although not resident in Romania, can found themselves in the situation of having the obligation to register for Romanian tax purposes. In essence, the Romanian Tax Procedure Code includes in the scope of the obligation to register for Romanian tax purposes those non-residents involved in taxable transactions in Romania (essentially, we are talking about the rights and obligations arising from a taxable transaction – such as the obligation to payment of income tax obtained in Romania, for example).
In other words, if a foreign company or a non-resident individual is involved in transactions that give rise to tax reporting obligations on the Romanian territory, the fiscal registration of the non-resident involved in the transactions becomes mandatory.
What kind of transactions can trigger such obligation? For example, the provision of services, any deliveries of goods, or investments in the Romanian capital market. It is important, however, before describing a number of practical issues related to the fiscal registration of non-residents in Romania, to also clarify the main rules underlying such transactions.
Even if, in the following, we will only discuss aspects strictly related to the tax registration process, it is also worth mentioning some examples of non-resident transactions that can give rise to tax obligations in Romania. For example, the following types of income obtained on the Romanian territory can trigger a tax reporting obligation for a non-resident:
When we talk about the tax registration of non-residents, we are actually talking about:
Regarding the forms that must be submitted by non-residents who have the obligation for tax registration in Romania, these are different, as we speak of companies or individuals.
In the case of companies without a permanent establishment registered in Romania, they have the obligation to submit the form 015, “Tax registration form, for non-resident taxpayers who do not have a permanent establishment in Romania”. According to the applicable law, the tax registration form must be completed and submitted “on the occasion of the first fiscal registration”.
The registration form can be submitted directly by the income payer, or by proxy/legal representative/tax representative, to the registry of the competent Romanian tax office, or via post office. The form can also be submitted electronically.
But who is the responsible Romanian tax office handling the registration of non-residents? First of all, for the registration of non-residents, the competence reverts to the Fiscal Administration for Non-resident Taxpayers, within the General Regional Directorate of Public Finances of Bucharest, for the following types of companies:
In addition, the following tax authorities are also responsible with the tax registrations for non-residents, depending on the specific situation:
On the other hand, a non-resident company may also carry out activities in Romania through a registered permanent establishment. In this case, according to ANAF Order no. 3140/2016, this entity will have to submit a registration form (i.e., Form 013) for registering a permanent establishment.
For this case, two important aspects must be kept in mind:
For the tax registration of non-resident individuals, a different tax form must be used: form 030 – “Tax registration form for individuals who do not have a personal numerical code”. Apart from the fact that we are talking about different tax registration forms, the same rules mentioned above regarding companies without a permanent establishment apply, in principle, for non-resident individuals as well.
In practice, there still may be some differences in terms of the tax office in charge with the tax registration for non-residents, where, for certain specific transactions different rules may apply.
For example, for individuals, there is an express specification regarding the competence of the Tax Administration for Non-resident Taxpayers, within the Bucharest Regional General Directorate of Public Finance, regarding the obtaining of revenues from the transfer of securities and from any other operations with financial instruments, including derivative financial instruments. Not that such transactions would not take place at companies, but they are taken into account when establishing the business tax.
Regarding the moment when the registration declarations must be submitted, the Romanian Tax Procedure Code establishes that both companies and individuals, if they meet the above conditions, will register within 30 days from the date of obtaining the first income.
Not always. According to the Romanian Tax Procedure Code, we are talking about three situations in which this is not mandatory.
First of all, in the case of incomes regarding which there are rules of taxation at source, the assignment of the fiscal identification code can also be done at the request of the income payer resident in Romania. For example, such incomes are those from gambling, or dividend income.
Secondly, there are a number of special rules in the Tax Procedure Code, according to which certain entities have the obligation to provide information to the tax authorities, for the registration of non-residents. First of all, we are talking about the Trade Register, when an individual:
In such situations, the Romanian Trade Register requests the Ministry of Finance to assign to the natural persons who have the quality of founder, associate, shareholder or administrator in the companies covered by the above actions the tax identification number. In this case, the Ministry of Finance will register the non-resident natural person for tax purposes.
The same happens when a non-resident individual or a non-resident company opens a bank account with a bank in Romania – or rents a safe deposit box at that bank. Basically, the bank requests the central fiscal body to assign the fiscal registration number or, as the case may be, the fiscal registration code. Based on that request and the data received, the Ministry of Finance, among others, will fiscally register the non-resident person.
Founded in 2008 as TAX IQ, our company has gained extensive expertise over the years, allowing us to effectively utilize our experience to benefit our clients’ best interests. Over time, we have succeeded to build a solid reputation as trusted tax advisor for the entire community of Romanian expats.
Founded in 2008 as TAX IQ, our company has gained extensive expertise over the years, allowing us to effectively utilize our experience to benefit our clients’ best interests. Over time, we have succeeded to build a solid reputation as trusted tax advisor for the entire community of Romanian expats.