Tax residency in Romania: the 183-day rule, ANAF and double residency
Tax residency in Romania comes from more than 183 days in the country within 12 consecutive months, or from having your centre of vital interests there: home, family, work. It is not the same as registering an address and does not depend on the company you open. Below: the Romanian rules, your home country's rules, how a tax treaty settles double residency and what changes for you and your company.
Tax residency, registered address and your company: three different things
Tax residency is the country entitled to tax your entire income, wherever it is earned: salaries, dividends, rent, capital gains. You neither choose it nor apply for it: each state's rules determine it and, when two states both claim you, the tax treaty between them settles it.
A registered address is a different thing: an entry in a population register. In Romania, an EU citizen gets a registration certificate and a personal numeric code (CNP). It is one of the clues tax authorities look at, but on its own it does not move your taxes.
Your company is a separate taxpayer. A Romanian SRL pays its taxes where it is managed, not where its shareholder lives. You can be tax resident at home with a company in Romania, or live in Romania with a company your home tax authority treats as domestic. If you are still deciding whether to open one, start with how to open a company in Romania.
The Romanian rules: 183 days or centre of vital interests
You become tax resident in Romania in two cases: if you are present in the country for more than 183 days within 12 consecutive months, or if your centre of vital interests is in Romania, meaning home, family and work. One of the two conditions is enough.
The 12 months are not the calendar year: someone who arrives in September and stays until May passes 183 days without spending six months in either calendar year.
When you pass the 183 days you file the tax residency questionnaire with ANAF, the tax agency, with documents proving home, family and activity. ANAF replies with a notice saying whether it treats you as resident and from when. The same questionnaire, in its departure version, is filed when you leave Romania.
Once resident you can request a tax residency certificate: the document you show your home tax authority or a bank abroad to prove that you pay tax in Romania. Without the questionnaire, and without a real situation behind it, you will not get one.
Your home country's rules: deregistering is necessary, not sufficient
Most European countries keep you resident on the same three tests: registered residence, domicile and physical presence. Italy is a clear example: you remain tax resident in Italy if, for most of the tax year, that is more than 183 days, you have your registered residence, your domicile or your physical presence there. One of the three is enough.
That is why deregistering, in Italy by joining the AIRE register of citizens abroad, is the first step: it removes the tax authority's easiest argument. But it is necessary, not sufficient: the authority can still argue that your domicile, the place of your personal and family relationships, stayed at home.
The clues are concrete: the house where the family lives, the children's school, utility bills, the car, active bank accounts, actual days spent in the country. A move on paper with the family still in Milan or Munich does not hold; a move with home, family and work in Bucharest does. If your situation is mixed, talk to an accountant in both countries before you move, not after.
Double residency: how a tax treaty decides
If Romania and your home country both treat you as resident, for instance because you have the Romanian 183 days but your family stayed behind, the double taxation treaty between the two countries decides. The tie-breaker criteria apply in order, stopping at the first that gives an answer:
- Permanent home: you are resident where you have a home permanently at your disposal. If you have one in both, move on.
- Centre of vital interests: where your personal and economic relations are closer.
- Habitual abode: where you spend more time.
- Nationality: the state you are a citizen of; if both or neither, the two administrations settle it by mutual agreement.
The order matters. If you have a home at your disposal only in Romania, the treaty assigns you to Romania even if you hold another nationality. If you keep your house at home and rent one in Bucharest, the contest moves to the centre of vital interests, where family and children weigh more than any contract.
What changes in your personal taxes once you are tax resident in Romania
As a tax resident in Romania you pay Romanian tax on your worldwide income, and your home country loses the right to tax income that does not arise there. Romania personal income tax is 10%, a single flat rate: salaries, director's fees, rent, self-employment income. Dividends are taxed at 16% from 2026.
On dividends there is also CASS, the health contribution, due when the year's dividends exceed thresholds tied to the minimum wage.
For someone living on dividends from their own company the comparison is stark: an Italian resident, for instance, pays 26% on foreign dividends, a Romanian resident 16% plus CASS above the threshold. But it only holds if the Romanian residency is real and the treaty assigns you to Romania; otherwise your home country taxes the same income a second time and the foreign tax credit recovers only part of it.
Your company: where it is managed, not where it is registered
A company's tax residency follows the same logic as yours: substance. An SRL is resident in Romania because it is managed from Romania, not because it is entered in the Trade Registry. If the director lives in Turin, decides from Turin, signs from Turin and Romania holds only a registered office address, the Italian tax authority can treat the company as Italian resident: the effective-management rule, with back taxes and penalties.
The risk falls when management is real in Romania: a director who lives there, decisions taken there, a Romanian accountant and an active Romanian bank account, customers in the country, an employee, which is also the condition for micro-company status at 1% under €100,000 of revenue.
The company's regime does not change with your residency: 1% as a micro-company with one employee, 16% profit tax above the ceiling, VAT at 21%. The two questions, whether to open and whether to move, stay separate: the first is answered in is it worth opening a company in Romania?, the second depends on where you actually want to live.
Three situations compared
The table shows where you pay personal tax, where the company pays and which risk you have to manage.
| Situation | Your personal taxes | Company taxes | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| You live at home and run the Romanian SRL from there | Home country, on worldwide income; Romanian dividends at the home rate (26% in Italy) | Romania on paper, but your home country can treat it as domestic | Effective management abroad: home taxes on the company, with penalties |
| You live in Romania for good, with home and family | Romania: 10% on income, 16% on dividends plus CASS above the threshold | Romania: 1% micro or 16% on profit | Low, if deregistration and the ANAF questionnaire are in order |
| You live in Romania, but home and family stay behind | Contested: the treaty decides, often in favour of the home country | Romania, if management really is there | Double residency: a home-country assessment on worldwide income |
The third row is the one we see most often and the most fragile: the 183 days are there, the centre of vital interests is not. There the Romanian certificate is not enough, because the treaty looks at the family before the days. Before counting on the 10%, have the facts counted by an accountant in both countries.
Moving to Romania: the practical checklist, from the flat to the company
If the move is real, this is the right order:
- Home in Romania with a lease or purchase deed in your name: it proves the permanent home and everything else depends on it.
- Registration and CNP: as an EU citizen you obtain the registration certificate and the personal numeric code, which is also your tax number.
- Deregistration at home: leave the population register (in Italy, join AIRE through the consulate) and notify your tax authority.
- ANAF questionnaire once you pass 183 days, with the documents on home, family and work; then the tax residency certificate.
- Positions at home: close or adapt VAT numbers, contracts, utilities, doctor; decide what to do with property and accounts.
- Romanian bank account in your name, used for everyday spending.
The company comes after the home, not before. With Start4 you set it up in 3–7 working days by power of attorney, with no electronic signature and no travel: the Business package, €699, includes a registered office for 12 months, the NIF, the choice of tax regime, VAT and e-Factura. If your lease already allows a registered office, Start at €399 is enough; Premium, €999, adds a lawyer and 3 months of assistance. Accounting costs €99, €149 or €249 a month, with support in English, Italian and Romanian. Start from open an SRL in Romania or from the Start4 home page.
Frequently asked
When do I become tax resident in Romania?
When you exceed 183 days of presence within 12 consecutive months, or when your centre of vital interests, home, family and work, is in Romania. One condition is enough. Once you pass 183 days you file the residency questionnaire with ANAF and receive a notice with the date from which you are resident.
Is deregistering at home enough to stop paying tax there?
No. Leaving the population register removes the simplest argument, but most countries still treat you as resident if your domicile or physical presence stayed there for more than 183 days. Italy, for instance, requires AIRE registration and then looks at where family, home and interests are. Deregistration is necessary; the facts must confirm it.
How much tax do I pay as a Romanian tax resident?
Personal income tax is a flat 10%, dividends are taxed at 16% from 2026, and on dividends above thresholds tied to the minimum wage you also pay CASS, the health contribution. Your home country no longer taxes your worldwide income, only what arises there, such as a rented flat.
Can I live in my home country and own a company in Romania?
Yes, but the company must be managed from Romania. If every decision is taken at home and Romania holds only a registered office address, your tax authority can treat the company as domestic under the effective-management rule. You need a director or real management in the country, and dividends are taxed at home.
What happens if two countries both consider me tax resident?
The double taxation treaty decides, applying its criteria in order: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality. It stops at the first that gives an answer. To rely on it you need proof: lease, Romanian tax residency certificate, family documents. Talk to an accountant in both countries.