Romania Expat Tax: 10% Flat Tax & 35% Social Security

Romania's 10% flat income tax is one of the best-known tax rates in Europe. It's also misleading. An employee in Romania hands over 41.5% of their gross salary, because 35% goes in pension and health contributions before the 10% tax is even worked out.

This guide covers Romanian personal tax for people moving to or living in Romania in the 2026 tax year, which is the calendar year. It covers the real cost for employees and freelancers, the residence rules, the 2026 tax rises on investments and crypto, and the digital nomad visa.

The key question is simple. Are you paid a salary, or are you self-employed? The 10% rate is the same, but the contributions are not.

What's changed: two fiscal packages, Law 141/2025 and Law 239/2025, raised several taxes. From 1 January 2026, dividends and crypto gains are taxed at 16% instead of 10%. Share gains through a Romanian broker are taxed at 3% or 6% instead of 1% or 3%, and at 16% otherwise. Since 1 August 2025, pensions above 3,000 lei a month carry a 10% health contribution. For 2026 income, the health contribution ceiling for the self-employed rose from 60 to 72 minimum wages.

📋 Romania tax at a glance for 2026

This guide converts at 4.8 lei to US$1. The National Bank of Romania rate on 7 October 2026 was 4.78.

The 10% flat tax and the 35% you pay first

Why does a 10% tax country rate so poorly for employees? Because income tax is the smallest deduction on your payslip.

Image 1 — Romania's 10% flat tax costs an employee 41.5% all-in

Employees in Romania pay two social contributions on their gross salary:

• CAS, the pension contribution: 25%.

• CASS, the health contribution: 10%.

Income tax of 10% is then charged on what's left, which is 6.5% of your gross salary. The three together take 41.5%.

Two things make Romania stand out. First, the employee pays almost all of it. Your employer only adds a 2.25% work insurance contribution (CAM). Second, there is no ceiling, so the 35% applies to every leu you earn.

The income tax exemptions that used to help software developers and workers in construction, agriculture and food production ended on 1 January 2025.

👉 ANAF (Romanian tax authority): the Fiscal Code, Law 227/2015 (in Romanian)

👉 Emergency Ordinance 156/2024: end of the sector exemptions (in Romanian)

When you become tax resident in Romania

You're a Romanian tax resident if you meet any one of these tests:

• your domicile is in Romania

• your centre of vital interests is in Romania, meaning your personal and economic ties are closer to Romania than to anywhere else

• you're present in Romania for more than 183 days in any period of 12 consecutive months ending in the calendar year

The 183 days are counted over any 12 months, not the calendar year. Once you pass them, you send the tax authority, ANAF, a residence questionnaire within 30 days.

Here's the part people miss. Once you're resident under the 183-day test, you're taxed on your worldwide income from the first day you arrived in Romania, not from day 184. If you can prove you're still resident in a country that has a tax treaty with Romania, the treaty decides which country comes first.

How you stop being resident

You file a second questionnaire at least 30 days before you leave Romania for a stay abroad of more than 183 days in any 12 months.

• Foreigners who became resident by presence or vital interests are treated as resident until the date they leave.

• Residents with their domicile in Romania who move to a treaty country stay taxable on worldwide income until the date their residence changes.

• Residents with their domicile in Romania who move to a country with no treaty stay taxable on worldwide income for the year they leave and the next three calendar years.

👉 ANAF: guidelines for the fiscal residence of individuals

Income tax rates for 2026

Romania has one rate and no bands. What changes from one kind of income to the next is the contribution that comes with it.

Romania income tax and contribution rates for 2026

Source: Romanian Fiscal Code (Law 227/2015) as amended by Law 141/2025 and Law 239/2025. Contribution bases use the 4,050 lei minimum wage.

Worked example

• You're employed in Romania in 2026 on a gross salary of 480,000 lei (about US$100k).

• Your pension contribution is 120,000 lei and your health contribution is 48,000 lei.

• Income tax is 10% of the remaining 312,000 lei, which is 31,200 lei.

Your all-in bill is 199,200 lei, or 41.5% of your salary. You take home 280,800 lei.

If a foreign employer sends you to Romania, EU rules or a social security agreement may keep you in your home country's system for a time. Check this before you sign, because it can remove the 35%.

👉 ANAF: Law 239/2025 changes and 2026 contribution bases (in Romanian)

Freelancing in Romania

Most freelancers register as a PFA, which is a sole trader. You pay 10% income tax on your net income, worked out in one of two ways:

• The real system: your income less your business expenses.

• Income norms: a fixed annual figure set for certain activities. If your gross income was above the lei equivalent of €25,000 in the previous year, you have to use the real system.

The big difference from employment is that your contributions are capped. They're set in multiples of the gross minimum wage, which is 4,050 lei for 2026 income.

Romania self-employed (PFA) contributions for 2026 income

Both are deducted before the 10% tax is worked out. On 480,000 lei of profit (about US$100k), you pay 24,300 lei of pension contribution, 29,160 lei of health contribution and 42,654 lei of income tax.

That's 96,114 lei, or about 20%, less than half the employee's share. The caps help higher earners most. On 200,000 lei of profit, the same sums come to about 30%.

Some contractors use a small company instead. That's a separate company regime, with 16% tax when you take a dividend, and it's outside this guide.

👉 ANAF: the single tax return for self-employed income (in Romanian)

Crypto, investments and pensions

How is crypto taxed in Romania? Since 1 January 2026, gains from selling crypto are taxed at 16%, up from 10%, however long you held it. Gains of less than 200 lei per transaction are ignored if your gains for the year are no more than 600 lei.

Investment income is taxed at different rates depending on what it is and where you hold it:

• Dividends: 16% on dividends distributed from 1 January 2026.

• Interest: 10%.

• Share gains through a Romanian broker: 3% if you held for more than 365 days and 6% if less, withheld on each gain. Losses can't be used.

• Share gains through a foreign broker, or with no broker: 16% on your net gain for the year.

A health contribution comes on top. If your investment income, rent, crypto gains and similar income together reach 24,300 lei in the year, you pay 10% on a fixed base of 24,300, 48,600 or 97,200 lei. The most it can cost is 9,720 lei a year, about US$2,000.

Pensions

Pension income is taxed at 10% above 3,000 lei a month. Since 1 August 2025 it also carries the 10% health contribution on the amount above 3,000 lei. That measure is currently set to run to the end of 2027.

Foreign pensions follow the same rules, worked out over the year. The first 36,000 lei is free of both. On a pension of 192,000 lei (about US$40k), that's 15,600 lei of health contribution and 14,040 lei of tax, or about 15%. A tax treaty may change which country taxes the pension.

Romania has no general wealth tax, but a special yearly tax applies to the part of a home's taxable value above 2,500,000 lei and of a car's purchase price above 375,000 lei. There's no inheritance tax as such. If you inherit land or buildings, there's no tax as long as the succession is settled and completed within two years of the death. If it takes longer, the heirs pay 1% of the value of the estate.

👉 Law 239/2025: the new rates on share gains and crypto (in Romanian)

👉 Law 141/2025: the 16% dividend tax and the health contribution on pensions (in Romanian)

👉 ANAF: tax and health contribution on pensions (in Romanian)

Social security

Romania is a classic low tax, high social security country. The rate you see advertised is 10%. The rate that decides your take-home pay is the 35% in contributions: 25% for your pension (CAS) and 10% for health (CASS).

The gross minimum wage is 4,050 lei a month to 30 June 2026 and 4,325 lei from 1 July.

👉 National House of Public Pensions (CNPP): 2026 figures (in Romanian)

Double tax treaties

Does Romania have double tax treaties? Yes, more than 80. Romania has suspended two of them, the treaties with Russia and Belarus.

The list includes the UK, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, India, China and the UAE.

👉 ANAF: list of Romania's double tax treaties (in Romanian)

The digital nomad visa

Romania has a long-stay visa for non-EU remote workers. You can apply if you work under an employment contract for a company registered outside Romania, or run your own company registered outside Romania, and you do the work remotely.

The income test is at least three times Romania's average gross monthly wage, for each of the six months before you apply and for the whole period of the visa. On the 9,192 lei average wage used for the 2026 social insurance budget, that's about 27,600 lei a month (about US$5,700). Check the figure the consulate is using.

A digital nomad pays no Romanian income tax, pension or health contribution on the salary or salary-type income from that remote work, as long as they're in Romania for no more than 183 days in any 12 consecutive months.

Go over 183 days and you become tax resident, taxed from the first day you arrived. The visa works as a base for part of the year, not as a way to live in Romania full time untaxed.

👉 Ministry of Foreign Affairs eVisa portal: visa types (in Romanian)

👉 Law 69/2023: the digital nomad tax exemption (in Romanian)

Who is Romania good for?

Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on 2026 rules and the all-in cost including pension and health contributions.

☑️ Who is Romania good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026

Filing and deadlines

Employees have tax and contributions deducted through payroll.

Everyone else uses the single tax return, the Declaratia Unica (form 212). You file it for self-employed income, rent, foreign income including pensions, crypto gains and share gains made outside a Romanian broker.

The return for your 2026 income is due by 25 May 2027, with the tax and contributions paid by the same date. The self-employed also file an income estimate for the current year by 25 May.

👉 ANAF: guide to the single tax return, form 212 (in Romanian)

Frequently asked questions

What is the income tax rate in Romania in 2026?

Romania has a flat 10% income tax on salaries, self-employed profits and pensions. From 1 January 2026, dividends and crypto gains are taxed at 16%.

How much social security do employees pay in Romania?

Employees pay a 25% pension contribution and a 10% health contribution on their whole gross salary, with no ceiling. With 10% income tax on the rest, the total is 41.5% of gross salary.

When do you become tax resident in Romania?

You're resident if your domicile or centre of vital interests is in Romania, or if you're present for more than 183 days in any 12 consecutive months ending in the calendar year. Under the 183-day test, you're taxed on worldwide income from the first day you arrived.

How is crypto taxed in Romania?

Gains from selling crypto are taxed at 16% from 1 January 2026, up from 10%. A health contribution of up to 9,720 lei a year can apply on top.

Do digital nomads pay tax in Romania?

Not on the salary or salary-type income from their remote work, as long as they hold digital nomad status and stay no more than 183 days in any 12 consecutive months. Stay longer and you become tax resident from the day you arrived.

How many double tax treaties does Romania have?

Romania has more than 80 double tax treaties, including with the UK, the United States, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The treaties with Russia and Belarus are suspended.