In brief

  • The ceiling for cultural vouchers rises to 260 lei a month and 510 lei per event. That is 10 lei and 20 lei more than the figures set in April for the first half of 2026, an increase of 4%. It concerns employees who receive cultural vouchers from their employer and the employers who award them, in any sector, public or private.
  • The new value does not apply from August, but from October 2026. The implementing rules for Law no. 165/2018 provide that the value in force in the last month of the previous half-year also applies in the first two months of the next one, so in August and September 2026 the limit stays at 250 lei. The order then extends the 260 lei to February and March 2027 as well, so in practice the ceiling covers the period from October 2026 to March 2027.
  • A cultural voucher worth 260 lei costs the employer exactly 260 lei. Vouchers are exempt from social security contributions and are taxed at only 10% of their value, so an employee receiving the maximum is left with 234 lei. Across the whole six-month period, the increase is worth 60 lei more, 54 after tax.
Act: Order of the Minister of Finance no. 1.187 of 2 September 2026 and of the Minister of Culture no. 3.177 of 4 September 2026 setting the indexed amount awarded in the form of cultural vouchers for the second half of 2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 778 of 15 September 2026
In force from: 15 September 2026, the date of publication; the value of 260 lei applies from 1 October 2026

The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Culture have decided, in a joint order ten lines long, that the amount an employer may award in the form of cultural vouchers rises to a maximum of 260 lei a month and a maximum of 510 lei for a single event. Cultural vouchers belong to the family of value vouchers, the same family as meal vouchers, nursery vouchers and the gift vouchers that public sector staff never received in 2018, but the ceiling for each of them is calculated separately, under its own rules, and for cultural vouchers the recalculation is done twice a year.

The order has two articles. Article 1(1) fixes the two ceilings for the second half of 2026, paragraph (2) extends them to February and March 2027, and Article 2 orders publication in the Official Gazette of Romania. The document was signed by Minister of Finance Alexandru Nazare on 2 September 2026 and by Minister of Culture Demeter András István on 4 September 2026, the same two ministers who signed the spring order.

The legal basis is Article 32 of Law no. 165/2018 on the award of value vouchers, which requires the maximum value of value vouchers to be indexed every six months, together with Article 33 of the implementing rules approved by Government Decision no. 1.045/2018. Those rules state two things that the order does not repeat, but without which it cannot be read correctly. First, the half-year is not counted from 1 January: it runs over six full calendar months starting with February 2019, so the first half runs from February to July and the second from August to January. Second, the value in force in the last month of one half-year also applies in the first two months of the next, so that there is always an applicable figure until the new order appears.

The starting point for indexation is January 2019, the month in which Law no. 165/2018 entered into force with a ceiling of 150 lei a month and 300 lei per event. The result of the calculation is rounded to the nearest 10 lei, and Article 32(2) of the law forbids any decrease: if indexation were to produce a figure lower than the previous one, the ceiling stays unchanged.

What it changes in practice

From 1 October 2026, an employer may top up an employee’s cultural voucher card with no more than 260 lei a month, where the award is monthly, or with no more than 510 lei where it is occasional, for a particular event. The two formulas are alternatives rather than cumulative: the law speaks of vouchers awarded „lunar sau ocazional” (monthly or occasionally).

The ceiling is a tax limit, not an employee entitlement. Nothing obliges an employer to award cultural vouchers, and nothing obliges an employer who already awards them to go up to the maximum. The increase takes effect only where the employer decides to apply it, or where the collective labour agreement refers to the statutory ceiling rather than to a fixed sum.

In the public sector another value voucher comes with a written entitlement and an income threshold: the 800-lei holiday vouchers go to school staff only where the net salary stays at or below 6,000 lei.

For an employee who receives the full ceiling every month, the difference between 250 and 260 lei is worth 60 lei more over the period from October 2026 to March 2027, and 54 lei after the 10% tax is withheld. For occasional awards, the difference is 20 lei per event, 18 after tax.

The tax treatment is untouched by this order, and it is the part that makes vouchers attractive to employers. Awarded in accordance with the law, these value vouchers are exempt from compulsory social security contributions under Article 142(r) of the Tax Code and are taxed at only 10%, as a benefit treated as salary. In other words, those 260 lei cost the employer 260 lei, with nothing on top.

What they can buy does not change: season tickets or single tickets for shows, concerts, film screenings, museums, festivals, fairs and exhibitions, including travelling ones, and theme parks, plus books, school textbooks, music albums and films, in any format. The list is the one in Article 21(2) of Law no. 165/2018, and using the vouchers for anything else is an administrative offence.

The institutions that sell those tickets also receive money straight from the State: 142.8 million lei went to 75 theatres, opera houses and philharmonic orchestras, out of the 2% share of income tax.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Until now the applicable act was Order of the Minister of Finance no. 369/2026 and of the Minister of Culture no. 2.624/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 258 of 1 April 2026, which had set 250 lei a month and 490 lei per event for the first half of 2026 and, through the same mechanism, for August and September 2026. The new order raises the monthly ceiling by 10 lei, or 4%, and the occasional one by 20 lei, or 4.1%.

The extension window changes too. The April order carried the value of 250 lei through to the end of September 2026; this one carries the value of 260 lei through to the end of March 2027. In practice, each indexation order covers six months, but not the six months named in its title.

Nothing else moves. The order does not touch the circle of beneficiaries, does not amend the list of cultural goods and services, does not change the face value of a single voucher, which stays at 10 lei or a multiple of 10 but no more than 50 lei, and does not bring back the paper format, withdrawn in February 2022. It is a one-figure act, repeated twice a year since 2019.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • The increase comes automatically, through indexation, without depending on negotiations inside each company. An employee whose collective agreement refers to the statutory ceiling receives more without having to ask for anything.
  • The benefit reaches the person almost in full: 260 lei awarded in vouchers means 260 lei of cost for the employer, with no social security contributions on top, and the employee loses only the 10% tax.
  • The law blocks any decrease. Article 32(2) of Law no. 165/2018 provides that if the calculation were to yield a lower figure, the ceiling stays unchanged, so indexation can only move upwards or stand still.
  • The order appeared two weeks earlier, relative to its half-year, than the spring one: 45 days after the start of the second half, against 59 days in the case of the first. Employers have time to set up their orders before October.
  • The automatic extension to February and March 2027 removes the usual start-of-year uncertainty: nobody is left without an applicable figure if the next order is late.

What remains a problem

  • The order does not say from which month the 260 lei apply. Anyone who reads it without opening the implementing rules may believe the new value applies from August 2026, the first month of the second half-year, and may exceed the ceiling for September. The companion order on nursery vouchers from 2022 said expressly „începând cu luna octombrie 2022” (starting with the month of October 2022).
  • The increase is small compared with what it buys. Ten lei more a month means 54 lei in hand across the whole six-month period, less than a single theatre ticket.
  • The index used is published nowhere. The order gives the result, not the calculation, so no employer and no employee can check whether 260 lei is the right figure.
  • The ceiling remains a limit, not an entitlement. An employee cannot demand cultural vouchers on the basis of this order, and an employer who awards none at all breaches nothing.
  • The per-event ceiling has fallen behind the monthly one. In 2019, the occasional amount was exactly double the monthly one, 300 against 150. It is now 1.96 times larger, 510 against 260, because the two values are rounded separately.

Practical advice

  1. If you are an employer, do not raise the ceiling before October. For August and September 2026 the statutory limit stays at 250 lei a month, under Article 33(3) of the rules approved by Government Decision no. 1.045/2018, and any amount awarded above that limit is no longer awarded in accordance with the law.
  2. Check what the collective labour agreement or the internal rules actually say. If they contain a fixed figure, 250 lei for instance, the increase does not apply by itself and an addendum is needed; if they refer to the maximum statutory ceiling, it applies automatically from October.
  3. Remember that any amount above the ceiling falls outside the exemption from social security contributions in Article 142(r) of the Tax Code, because the exemption there is conditional on the award being made „potrivit legii” (in accordance with the law). The excess becomes ordinary salary income, with all the contributions that go with it.
  4. The paper format disappeared on 1 February 2022, so the increase is applied by topping up the existing card, not by printing more vouchers.
  5. Before you pay, check whether what you are buying falls within the list in Article 21(2) of the law. A gym membership or a meal at a theatre restaurant are not cultural goods and services, and using the vouchers for anything else is an administrative offence both for the person using them and for the trader who accepts them.
  6. Do not wait for a new order for February and March 2027. The value of 260 lei is already extended to those two months by Article 1(2) of the present order.

Frequently asked questions

From which month does the 260 lei figure actually apply?
From October 2026. The second half-year begins in August, but the implementing rules for Law no. 165/2018 provide that the value in force in the last month of the previous half-year, that is July 2026, also applies in the first two months of the new one. For August and September 2026 the ceiling stays at 250 lei a month and 490 lei per event.
How long is the new value valid?
Until 31 March 2027 inclusive. The order sets it for the second half of 2026 and expressly extends it to February and March 2027, the first two months of the first half of next year. From April 2027 the value set by the following order applies.
Am I entitled to ask my employer for cultural vouchers?
No. The order sets a maximum ceiling, not an obligation. Awarding cultural vouchers is the employer’s decision, which may be assumed through the collective labour agreement, the internal rules or the individual employment contract. An employer who awards none at all breaches nothing.
What is withheld from cultural vouchers?
Only the 10% income tax, applied to the value of the vouchers. Social security contributions are not due, because value vouchers awarded in accordance with the law are excepted by Article 142(r) of the Tax Code. On 260 lei the tax is 26 lei, so the net benefit is 234 lei.
What can I buy with cultural vouchers?
Season tickets or single tickets for shows, concerts, film screenings, museums, festivals, fairs and exhibitions, whether permanent or travelling, and theme parks, including those for children, as well as books, school textbooks, music albums and films, in any format. The list is the one in Article 21(2) of Law no. 165/2018 and it is exhaustive.
What happens to vouchers already received at the old value?
They remain valid until the expiry date shown on them. The order sets how much may be awarded from now on; it does not recalculate sums already loaded onto the card, and the employer is under no obligation to top up the difference for past months.
What is the value of a single cultural voucher?
10 lei or a multiple of 10, but no more than 50 lei, under Article 22(2) of Law no. 165/2018. The ceilings of 260 and 510 lei concern the total amount awarded in a month, or for one event, not the value of an individual voucher.

Editorial analysis

The order does the job the law asks of it, and does it on time. That is worth saying, because it has not always been so: the second half of 2026 began on 1 August, and the order appeared on 15 September, 45 days later. In the spring, the order for the first half appeared 59 days after that half-year began. Both fell inside the two-month window the rules leave open, but each time only just, and the April one was published on the very first day of the month from which it was meant to apply.

What you do not see reading the order is that its title and the period in which it produces effects do not overlap. The title says „semestrul II al anului 2026” (the second half of 2026), that is August 2026 to January 2027, following the counting method in the implementing rules. The value of 260 lei, however, applies from October 2026, because the first two months stay at the old value, and it runs until March 2027, because paragraph (2) extends it. The result: the order governs six months, but only four of them fall within the half-year it names. An employer who reads only the title and paragraph (1) has every reason to believe they may award 260 lei for August and September, months in which the statutory limit is 250. A difference of 10 lei per employee looks small, but it falls outside the contributions exemption and, in a company with a few thousand staff, produces a tax correction covering two months.

The second observation comes from putting the two figures side by side. The rules require indexation to start from January 2019, from 150 lei a month and 300 lei per event, with the result rounded to the nearest 10 lei. For 150 lei to reach 260, the index must be at least 1.70; for 300 lei to reach 510 rather than 520, it must be below 1.717. The only value that satisfies both lies between 170% and 171.7% of January 2019. The order publishes that figure nowhere, even though it is the only thing the issuing ministries actually calculated.

The third observation follows from the same place: the ratio between the two ceilings has broken. The law set it at exactly 1 to 2, 150 and 300 lei. Today it is 1 to 1.96, because each value is rounded separately to the nearest multiple of 10 and the rounding does not fall symmetrically. At an index of 1.71, the calculation gives 256.5 and 513 lei, which become 260 and 510 after rounding. The occasional amount has thus lost 10 lei against double the monthly one, and the loss repeats itself at every indexation.

Finally, the order does not say so, but Law no. 165/2018 and its implementing rules do not say the same thing about which index is to be used. Article 32(1)(b) of the law requires, for value vouchers other than meal vouchers, an index tied to the movement of prices for the goods and services that can be paid for with those vouchers, in other words an index of culture. Article 33(2)(a) of the rules speaks of the consumer price index, that is general inflation. These are two different quantities, and the general one does not necessarily track the price of a theatre ticket or a book. As long as the calculation is not published, there is no way to know which of them was applied.

What should be changed

  • State in the order the month from which the new value applies. A single phrase, „începând cu luna octombrie 2026” (starting with the month of October 2026), exactly as it was written in the 2022 order on nursery vouchers, removes the risk that an employer applies 260 lei for August and September and is left with a difference not covered by the tax exemption.
  • Publish the index and the calculation, in a paragraph or a three-line annex. At present the result appears without any trace of how it was obtained, and the figure of 260 lei cannot be checked from outside. An employer or a trade union wanting to verify the indexation has nowhere to start.
  • Publish the order in the Official Gazette of Romania before the half-year it governs begins. The statistical indices for the first half are known in July and those for the second in January, so the calendar allows publication in the first month of the half-year. The practical effect would be that the new value applies from the first month rather than the third, and the extension mechanism would go back to being what it was meant to be, a safety net rather than the rule.
  • Round the occasional amount to double the monthly one. The law fixed the ratio at 1 to 2 and nothing in it requires that ratio to be lost. A derived rounding rule, calculating the per-event value as double the already rounded monthly value, would bring the occasional ceiling back to 520 lei and remove a gap that widens with every indexation.
  • Reconcile Article 32(1)(b) of the law with Article 33(2)(a) of the implementing rules. The law calls for an index of cultural goods and services, the rules call for the consumer price index. Choosing one of them, in express terms, would make the indexation verifiable and would show whether the ceiling really keeps pace with the price of a show ticket or only with general inflation.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 778 of 15 September 2026 16 pages PDF, 115 KB the act starts on page 4

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.