E-Invoicing in Romania: Complete Guide

Latest Update: The Ministry of Finance announced that the grace period is extended until 31 May 2024. The transition period, during which no sanctions are imposed for not submitting invoices to the national electronic invoice system within the established deadline, is extended until 31 May 2024, instead of the end of March as originally planned. During grace period, the real-time reporting obligation remains an obligation. Find here the official press release.

Romania's 2024 B2B E-Invoicing Mandate

Romania has approved the general B2B e-invoicing mandate, starting the obligation to issue electronic invoices B2B by January 2024. Romania is embracing the digital age with open arms as it gears up for the B2B e-invoicing mandate. With a green light from the European Commission, Romania introduced the B2B e-invoicing mandate by January 2024, and it will be valid until December 2026 or upon the adoption of the ViDA proposal. 

The grace period extension is now confirmed until 31 May 2024, together with two new functionalities of the system: pre-filled data and English translation of the application for those foreign taxpayers using Efatura. 

We gathered some key insights into what this transition entails.

When Will E-invoices in Romania Become Mandatory?

The implementation of e-invoicing in Romania is carried out in two stages:

Stage 1: Romanian E-reporting (January 1, 2024 - June 30, 2024)

This is also considered as a preliminary phase. During this period, established and non-established taxpayers are required to report all invoices issued in the B2B domestic transactions to Romanian established taxpayers, as well as to foreign VAT registered businesses in Romania, and with public institutions, unless those that are currently subject to the B2G mandate. The reporting must be done in the national electronic invoice system RO e-Factura.

This obligation also extends to non-established taxable persons registered for VAT purposes in Romania.

State 2: Romanian E-invoicing (Starting July 1, 2024)

In the second stage, starting from July 1, 2024, Romanian established businesses must issue and exchange electronic invoices and transmit them to other Romanian established recipients using the national system regarding the RO E-Factura system.

This obligation extends to the recipient, who must be registered in the RO e-Factura platform in order to be able to receive the invoices. In consequence, all established businesses must be able to issue and receive e-invoices by 1 July 2024 via e-Factura.

However, non-established suppliers will continue to submit invoice details via e-reporting, a near real time reporting of invoices.

Grace period extended until 31 May 2024

For a brief transition period from January 1 to 31 May, 2024, no penalties will be imposed for non-compliance with submission deadlines for the submission of invoices to the RO e-Factura system. Initially, the grace period was expected to end by 31 March, however, the Ministry of Finance announced the extension a few days before the deadline.

This window offers businesses time to adapt, but early compliance is recommended to avoid potential issues during audits. The obligation to report invoices issued through the platform remains in place, therefore, all invoices must be reported starting January 2024.

What are the E-invoicing and E-reporting Mandates in Romania?

B2B E-invoicing mandate in Romania

E-invoicing in Romania is a centralized obligation that requires businesses to issue and transmit electronic invoices through a national platform known as RO e-Invoice.

Invoices must adhere to the RO_CIUS format, compliant with European e-invoicing standards (EN 16931-1).

The centralized e-invoicing procedure involves the following steps:

1. Data sent by supplier: Taxpayers subject to this obligation must submit electronic invoices to the Romanian platform, RO e-factura, in XML format.
2. Data checked by tax authorities: The tax administration performs checks and validations, approving or rejecting the invoice.
3. Invoice validated by tax authorities: Upon validation, the platform generates a digitally signed XML invoice, considered the valid invoice for the transaction.
4. Invoice downloaded by Customers: Clients must connect to the platform to retrieve this valid e-invoice, crucial for VAT refund purposes.

From a CTC perspective, the e-invoicing mandate is designed to be a centralized model.

B2B E-reporting in Romania

Concerning the e-reporting obligation, this consists of the submission of invoice details to the tax administration. A short deadline of 5 working days from the taxable event applies.

What transactions are in the scope of Romanian e-invoicing and e-reporting?

The scope of the new obligations includes all invoices issued in domestic B2B transactions when the customer is established in Romania, and B2G transactions not covered by the current B2G mandate. These are transactions that, following VAT rules, have the place of supply in Romania. 

Consequently, certain operations are exempted from this obligation, like exports and intra-community transactions.

Who will be Affected?

To sum it up:

• During the preliminary phase (until 30 June 2024), both established and non-established (VAT-registered) Romanian taxpayers must comply with the e-reporting obligation.
• As from the second stage (from 1 July 2024), B2B and B2G e-invoicing will be mandatory for Romanian-established taxpayers, as well as foreign companies with a permanent or fixed establishment in Romania. Non-established taxpayers with a VAT registration are not subject to this mandate; instead, they will need to continue submitting the invoices issued through e-reporting.

In this regard, we should remark that taxable persons established in Romania will be subject to these mandates even though they are not VAT-registered.

How to access RO E-Factura?

Accessing the RO e-invoice system requires registration in the Virtual Private Space (SPV). This is where economic operators connect to e-invoicing. Invoices in XML format can be issued and transmitted using either web services or web loading, depending on whether a company has its own application for generating electronic invoices.

Self-billing in E-Factura

Romanian tax authorities informed Marosa about the recent possibility of sending invoices issued by the buyer on behalf of the supplier via the web services, i.e., self-billing option. You can do this by adding the optional parameter AUTOFACTURA=DA to the upload.

You can find detailed information in the web services presentation and in the official technical information available at the following link.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Non-compliance with e-reporting obligation may result in penalties, varying based on the taxpayer’s size:

• Large taxpayers may face fines ranging from 5,000 lei to 10,000 lei.
• Medium taxpayers may be fined between 2,500 lei and 5,000 lei.
• Other legal entities and natural persons could incur penalties ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 lei.

On the other hand, not complying with the e-invoicing mandate as from 1 July 2024 will be sanctioned with 15% penalty on the invoice amount. 

Marosa´s solution for Romanian e-invoicing and e-reporting

VATify is Marosa´s VAT reporting software for all European countries. You will be able to validate, send and receive e-invoices to Romanian tax authorities directly from our system.

Marosa has a SPV account and a developer profile at the Romanian tax authorities. We will convert your data into the local format and submit it for validation and issuance of invoices. Purchase invoices will be downloaded and shown in your profile. Ultimately, VATify will reuse this data for your VAT returns in Romania.

Non-established VAT registered companies can report their invoices in VATify as per the mandatory CTC requirements.  

Given the short timeline, Marosa plans to allow manual batch submissions of invoices for the e-reporting period (until July 2024) via our software.

These are the steps you need to follow to comply with this new obligation with our help:

1. Contact Marosa to understand how we will support your organization
2. Authorize Marosa with a signed PoA
3. If you are not API ready, start complying with e-reporting with manual batch submissions via Excel.
4. Comply with new obligations via API and only login to review warnings from tax authorities.
5. Reuse data for VAT reporting