VAT number in Romania in 2026: PFA or SRL, and what each costs

Updated 14 September 2026 · 8 min read · The Start4 team

A VAT number in Romania means one of two things, and you should settle which before anything else: a PFA, the sole trader registration, or an SRL, a limited company with its own tax code and, if needed, a VAT code. Liability, tax and running costs all differ. Here is the comparison with 2026 figures, so you decide on your own numbers.

PFA vs SRL in Romania: what each one is

A PFA — persoană fizică autorizată — is you, registered with the trade registry under your own tax code. You invoice in your own name, the money is yours the moment it lands, and the business's debts are your debts. It is the form freelancers, consultants and tradespeople working alone tend to pick.

An SRL — societate cu răspundere limitată — is a legal person separate from you. It has its own assets, its own bank account (mandatory), its shareholders and a director. It can have several shareholders, hire staff, borrow, and be sold or inherited as a whole. From 1 January 2026 the minimum share capital is 500 lei (Law 239/2025).

Both register with the ONRC, the trade registry; both can hold a VAT code; both issue invoices through e-Factura and file returns through ANAF's SPV portal. What separates them is who answers for the debts and how the money you earn is taxed.

Liability: personal assets versus share capital

With a PFA your liability is unlimited. A client who doesn't pay, a contract gone wrong, an ANAF penalty or a damages claim from a customer can be recovered from your home, your car and your savings. There is no wall between the business and the person.

With an SRL the wall exists: the company's creditors pursue the company, and you are liable only up to the capital you subscribed. The exceptions are fraud and bad-faith management. Run the company properly and your personal assets stay yours.

It sounds theoretical until the first dispute. For anyone working on large contracts, holding stock, using subcontractors or serving foreign clients, it is the argument that settles the question before any tax arithmetic.

Tax in 2026 compared: PFA 10% plus contributions, micro-company 1%

A PFA pays 10% income tax on net income (receipts minus deductible expenses). On top of the 10% come CAS, the pension contribution, and CASS, the health contribution, due once net income passes thresholds set as multiples of the gross minimum wage. On a solid net income, the three together push the effective rate well past 10%.

A micro-company SRL pays 1% of invoiced revenue, capped at €100,000 a year; the 3% rate has been abolished. The condition: at least one full-time employee, or a director on a mandate contract. When you take the profit out, dividends are taxed at 16% from 2026. Above the cap, the company moves to 16% profit tax from the quarter in which it crosses it.

Reading the table: on low revenue with few deductible expenses, the PFA holds up. On high revenue or good margins, 1% on revenue plus 16% on dividends beats 10% plus contributions. Run it on your own figures, or have the accountant do it before you register. The regime is explained in the guide to Romanian micro-company tax in 2026.

Running costs and accounting

A PFA is cheap to keep: single-entry books, which many keep themselves or with an accountant paid ad hoc, one annual return and no balance sheet. No employee required, no capital to pay in.

An SRL needs double-entry books kept by a certified accountant, monthly or quarterly filings, an annual balance sheet and, under the micro regime, the salary of an employee or of a director on a mandate. With Start4, accounting costs €99, €149 or €249 a month depending on volume. A registered office, if you have none, is €130 a year after the first year.

Set-up cost is comparable: the ONRC fee for registration and publication in the Official Gazette is 152 lei either way. The real gap is the twelve months that follow: an SRL costs more to run, and gives you more. The full breakdown is in the cost of opening a company in Romania.

When a sole trader (PFA) makes sense

A sole trader registration makes sense when you work alone, have one or a handful of clients, modest revenue and little contractual risk: a translator, an instructor, a developer starting out, a tradesperson with no staff. You open it fast, keep it for almost nothing, and suspend it without fuss when you want a break.

It also works as a trial: test an idea for six months as a PFA and, if it flies, move to an SRL. What you should know from day one is that a PFA cannot be sold, cannot be shared with a partner, and protects you from nothing.

CAEN codes matter too: as a PFA you can only operate in fields where you hold documented training or experience, and some activities are simply not allowed. An SRL picks from the 651 classes of CAEN Rev. 3 with no such condition: one main code and up to 8 secondary ones.

When a freelancer in Romania needs a company

An SRL pays off in three clear cases: when revenue grows and 1% on revenue beats 10% plus contributions; when you need partners, employees or credit; and when your clients are large or foreign companies, which prefer to contract with a company rather than a private individual.

For a freelancer arriving in Romania from abroad, a company is in practice the only route: banks open accounts more readily for a company with a registered office and a director, and a foreign shareholder needs neither residency nor a qualification to own and run one. The steps are in our guide to opening a company in Romania.

And it is the form that lasts: an SRL can be sold, passed on, or take in investors. A PFA closes with you.

Romanian VAT registration and the 395,000 lei threshold

Romanian VAT registration does not depend on the legal form: both a PFA and an SRL must register for VAT once turnover passes 395,000 lei a year, and either may register earlier by choice if reclaiming VAT on purchases is worth it. So a VAT number in the strict sense is an extra registration, not the same thing as opening the business.

The 2026 rates are 21% standard and 11% reduced, in force since 1 August 2025. Below the threshold you invoice without VAT — handy when your clients are private individuals — but you reclaim nothing on what you buy.

For clients in other EU states you need an intra-community VAT code, which can be obtained below the threshold too, for intra-community transactions only. It is the question we get most often from freelancers invoicing companies in Germany, Italy or the UK; the answer is in our FAQ.

Moving from PFA to SRL

There is no direct conversion: a PFA does not become an SRL. You form the SRL, move the contracts onto the new company and close or suspend the PFA at the ONRC. The two can coexist for a while, long enough to move your clients across.

In practice: prepare the SRL's documents, open the bank account and pay in at least 30% of the capital within 3 months of registration — and in any case before trading starts — with the rest within 12 months; then notify clients, redo the contracts, and the last PFA invoice closes the chapter.

Order matters: open the SRL first, so you are never without an active tax code, and only then strike off the PFA.

What Start4 does: SRLs only, by power of attorney

We form SRLs only — no PFAs — because it is the form that protects you and holds up as the business grows. Our lawyer drafts the documents, signs them and files the case with the ONRC under the power of attorney you sign: you need no electronic signature and no trip to Romania.

The packages: Start at €399, if you already have an address, registry fees included; Business at €699, adding a registered office for 12 months, a NIF, help at the bank, tax regime, VAT, e-Factura and a 30-minute call with the accountant; Premium at €999, adding a lawyer on the whole file, contracts and 3 months of support; Foreign Investor from €1,490, on quotation.

The company is ready 3–7 working days after signing. Start from open an SRL in Romania or, if all you lack is the address, from a registered office.

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