In brief

  • Nearly five years on, Parliament approves the 2021 ordinance that wrote into the Tax Procedure Code the standard audit file for tax, mandatory electronic communication with ANAF and VAT refunds with a subsequent tax inspection.
  • Approval by law triggers one concrete consequence: the ordinance provides that the whole of the Tax Procedure Code is to be republished, with the articles renumbered, precisely at this point.
  • The same ordinance moved the instalment plan in simplified form out of the temporary pandemic regime and into the Tax Procedure Code, with interest of 0.01% per day and a penalty of 5%.
Act: Law no. 136/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 574 of 13 July 2026
In force from: 16 July 2026

Companies that send the standard audit file for tax (SAF-T) to ANAF every month or every quarter, those that can no longer file anything on paper and those that receive their VAT refund before the inspection have been working for four years on the basis of a simple ordinance from August 2021. Parliament has confirmed it only now. Law no. 136/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 574 of 13 July 2026, approves that ordinance without a single amendment. It is one of the seven approval laws in the same issue, alongside the one for the ordinance that created RO e-Transport. One of the procedures built on this code was rewritten in September: MF Order no. 1.128/2026 cuts the grounds for refusing an advance tax ruling from 26 to 7.

Government Ordinance no. 11/2021 was adopted on 30 August 2021, under the law enabling the Government to issue ordinances, and published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 832 of 31 August 2021. It is not an emergency ordinance but a simple ordinance, issued during the parliamentary recess.

The approval law has a single article. It approves the ordinance as subsequently amended, without touching its text.

What it changes in practice

Electronic communication with the tax authority has reached the mediation procedure as well: the videoconference option has to be claimed within two working days and only through the SPV.

The Tax Procedure Code is republished, with the articles renumbered. Article VII of the ordinance provides that Law no. 207/2015 is to be republished in the Official Gazette of Romania once the ordinance has been approved by law, with the texts being given new numbering. That moment came on 13 July 2026. It is the only new practical consequence of the present law, and it is not a small one: after republication, references to articles in contracts, internal procedures, tax assessment decisions and court judgments will have to be read through the correspondence between the old numbering and the new one.

The standard audit file for tax has become a statutory obligation. The ordinance inserted Article 59^1 into the Tax Procedure Code: the taxpayer files with the central tax authority a return containing information from its accounting and tax records, in electronic form, by the deadline set by order of the President of ANAF. The nature of the information, the reporting template, the categories of taxpayers covered and the transmission procedure are likewise approved by order of the President of ANAF.

A validation error does not automatically shift the filing date. Where the filing was not validated because of completion errors, the registration date remains the one on the message initially sent, provided that a valid file is submitted within 5 working days of the deadline.

The file has also entered the list of means of evidence. Article 55 was rewritten so as to include audio and video recordings, data held on any storage medium and the standard audit file for tax stored in such a way that its uniqueness and integrity are secured. In administrative and judicial appeal proceedings, the tax authority is required to provide a copy of, or a link to, the electronic version of the file.

Paper no longer counts at ANAF. Legal persons, associations and entities without legal personality, together with individuals in the liberal professions or carrying on independent economic activities, are required to communicate with the central tax authority by electronic remote transmission. Documents filed in paper form are disregarded, and the tax authority notifies the taxpayer of the obligation to communicate electronically.

Public institutions are required to enrol in PatrimVen. Public authorities and public or public-interest institutions have to use the Ministry of Finance IT system for the exchange of information, while private-law legal persons have to use dedicated IT systems.

As a rule, VAT is refunded before the inspection. Article 169 was rewritten: VAT claimed through VAT returns showing a negative amount with a refund option, filed within the deadline, is refunded with a subsequent tax inspection. The exceptions are exhaustively listed, among them acts punishable as criminal offences appearing in the tax record, a risk of undue refund established by the tax authority, voluntary liquidation or insolvency, the first return after registration for VAT purposes and a balance carried over from more periods than a year contains.

The risk of an undue refund now has written criteria. There are four of them: official documents received from other institutions and bearing on tax matters, acts that may amount to criminal offences and are found during an inspection, differences greater than 10% of the amount refunded and of at least 50,000 lei established at a subsequent tax inspection, plus significant mismatches between the taxpayer’s information returns and those of its business partners.

The instalment plan in simplified form has entered the Code. The ordinance introduced a new chapter on payment facilities, with interest of 0.01% for each day of delay and a penalty of 5% for instalments paid late or for amounts left outstanding after the instalment plan lapses. The debtor may ask for the instalment decision to be amended no more than twice during its period of validity, with exceptions for situations in which the tax administrative act is suspended or annulled.

Individuals carrying on independent activities have a designated tax authority. Article 33^1 provides that the tax obligations of those carrying on independent economic activities or exercising liberal professions are administered by the territorial tax authority within ANAF, designated by order of the President of the agency.

Translations from non-Latin alphabets call for a legalised copy. Where the Romanian translation is made from a script without Latin characters, a legalised copy of the original document has to be attached to the translated document as well.

A tax inspection may be redone by the same team. By way of exception to the rule that the team has to change, the inspection is redone by the team that drew up the annulled act where, for objective reasons, there is no possibility of another team doing so.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Before the ordinance, the standard audit file for tax did not exist as an obligation in the Tax Procedure Code. It was discussed as an ANAF project, but the legal basis for filing it, for its content and for the penalty was missing. The ordinance put the obligation into the Code and left everything else, including the categories of taxpayers and the timetable, to orders of the President of ANAF.

The second change concerns paper. Until then, electronic communication with the tax authority was a convenience. The ordinance turned it into an obligation for companies, associations and the liberal professions, with a harsh consequence written straight into the text: a document filed on paper is disregarded.

The third change is on VAT. The previous rule was replaced by one that starts from the refund and leaves the inspection for afterwards, with exhaustively listed exceptions. For a company with a negative return, the practical difference is several months of liquidity.

The fourth change took the instalment plan in simplified form out of the temporary pandemic regime. It had been introduced by Emergency Ordinance no. 181/2020, as a temporary measure. The 2021 ordinance moved the mechanism into the Tax Procedure Code, and so made it permanent, and it cancelled the penalty due in certain situations where taxpayers moved from the old regime to the new one.

The present law changes no text of the ordinance. What changes is its status, since it can no longer be rejected or amended in the approval procedure, and the obligation to republish the Code is now open.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • It triggers the republication of the Tax Procedure Code, a text amended dozens of times since 2015 and hard to read in its current form.
  • It confirms the legal basis of the standard audit file for tax, an obligation that already gives rise to penalties and inspections today.
  • It consolidates the rule that VAT is refunded before the inspection, with exceptions that are exhaustively listed rather than left to discretion.
  • It makes definitive the move of the instalment plan in simplified form from temporary pandemic legislation into the Tax Procedure Code.

What remains a problem

  • Almost five years passed between the ordinance and its approval, even though this is a simple ordinance, issued on the basis of an enabling law with a deadline.
  • Republication with renumbering comes after every reference to the current numbering has already found its way into contracts, procedures and case files.
  • The actual content of the standard audit file for tax has been left entirely to orders of the President of ANAF, and therefore outside parliamentary scrutiny.
  • The rule that documents filed on paper are disregarded carries no statutory period of grace for a taxpayer who is unable to enrol.
  • Redoing an inspection with the same team that drew up the annulled act remains an exception framed in terms of „objective reasons”, without criteria.

Practical advice

  1. If you use references to articles of the Tax Procedure Code in contracts or internal procedures, get ready for the republication. The numbering changes, and a reference to an article number becomes ambiguous unless you state which version you mean.
  2. For the standard audit file for tax, the deadline, the template and the categories covered are read from the order of the President of ANAF, not from the Code. The Code says only that the obligation exists.
  3. If your file was rejected at validation, you have 5 working days from the deadline to submit a valid one and keep the initial date.
  4. In an administrative appeal or in court proceedings, you may ask the tax authority for a copy of, or a link to, the electronic version of the standard audit file for tax. That is an express obligation on its part.
  5. Do not file documents on paper with the central tax authority if you are a legal person, an association or a liberal profession. The text says they will be disregarded.
  6. Where you file a VAT return showing a negative amount, check whether you fall within any of the situations that trigger a prior tax inspection. The first return after registration for VAT purposes is one of them.
  7. If you have an instalment plan running, an application to amend the decision may be filed no more than twice, subject to the exceptions expressly provided for the suspension or annulment of the tax administrative act.
  8. For a document translated from a language written in an alphabet other than the Latin one, attach a legalised copy of the original document as well, otherwise the file is incomplete.

Frequently asked questions

What does this law do?
In a single article, it approves Government Ordinance no. 11 of 30 August 2021 amending and supplementing Law no. 207/2015 on the Tax Procedure Code and laying down certain tax measures, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 832 of 31 August 2021, as subsequently amended.
Is the Tax Procedure Code really being republished?
Yes. Article VII of the ordinance provides that Law no. 207/2015 is to be republished in the Official Gazette of Romania once the ordinance has been approved by law, with the texts being given new numbering. Approval took place on 13 July 2026.
What is the standard audit file for tax?
A return containing information from the accounting and tax records, filed electronically with the central tax authority. The obligation is laid down in Article 59^1 of the Tax Procedure Code, while the content, the template, the deadline and the categories of taxpayers covered are approved by order of the President of ANAF.
Can I still file documents on paper with ANAF?
Legal persons, associations, entities without legal personality and individuals in the liberal professions or carrying on independent economic activities communicate electronically. Documents filed in paper form are disregarded, and the tax authority notifies them of the obligation.
When is the inspection carried out on a VAT refund?
As a rule, after the refund. A prior tax inspection remains for the situations listed in the law, among them acts punishable as criminal offences from the tax record, the risk of an undue refund, insolvency, the first return after registration for VAT purposes and a balance carried over from a large number of periods.
How much does an instalment plan cost?
Interest is 0.01% for each day of delay over the period of the plan. For an instalment paid late, up to the next date in the schedule, a penalty of 5% applies, which goes to the State budget.
Why was it approved only now?
It is a simple ordinance, issued on the basis of a law enabling the Government. The Constitution sets no deadline within which Parliament has to rule on the draft approval law, and until approval the ordinance produces its effects.

Editorial analysis

The ordinance approved here is one of the most substantial interventions in the Tax Procedure Code of recent years. It put the standard audit file for tax into law, closed the paper counter at ANAF, reversed the order between the VAT refund and the inspection, and moved the instalment plan in simplified form from pandemic legislation into the Code. Each of those measures changed something concrete in the relationship between a company and the tax authorities.

The problem is not the content, it is the timing. A simple ordinance is issued on the basis of an enabling law, that is on a delegation limited in time, granted precisely because Parliament is not sitting. Confirming it almost five years later empties the idea of a temporary delegation of its meaning: there is no longer any moment at which the legislature can say whether the delegation was used well, because in the meantime the measures have produced everything they had to produce.

The biggest practical consequence of the present law is not even written in it. The republication of the Tax Procedure Code, with renumbering, was conditional on this vote. It comes now, after the current numbering has already found its way into tens of thousands of administrative acts, contracts and judgments. A republication is useful, but it should have come in 2022, not in 2026.

The renumbering matters directly for anyone preparing now: Decision 8/2026 puts the Fiscal Procedure Code among the exam fields for the October 2026 tax consultant session.

What should be changed

  • A statutory deadline for Parliament to rule on simple ordinances. The enabling law has a deadline, so the confirmation of what it produced should have one too, otherwise the delegation becomes permanent in fact.
  • Publication of a correspondence table when the Code is republished. Without it, any reference to an article in the earlier versions becomes a question of interpretation for the taxpayer and for the court.
  • The essential elements of the standard audit file for tax, in the law. Who files, at what interval and what happens if they do not are matters of tax obligation, not of technical procedure, so they should not be left entirely to the level of an order.
  • An exception mechanism for taxpayers who cannot enrol electronically. The rule that a paper document is disregarded provides for no situation in which physical filing remains valid, not even temporarily.
  • Criteria for the „objective reasons” that allow a tax inspection to be redone. The exception allows the annulled act to be redone by the same team, and the taxpayer has no way of checking whether the reason invoked really exists.

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. 574 of 13 July 2026 16 pages PDF, 101 KB the act starts on page 10

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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.