transferring a Romanian company to its buyer
The transfer step by step: who drafts, who notifies ANAF and who files at the Trade Register. Request the transfer checklist
VAT Number in Romania, Format, Check, Getting and Losing It
Tax and compliance
A Romanian VAT number is the company's CUI with the prefix RO. A company gets it when it is registered for VAT under art. 316 of the Fiscal Code. A special code exists under art. 317. A CUI without RO is not a VAT number. You check a VAT number in VIES and in the ANAF register of VAT-registered persons.
What is a VAT number in Romania?
The Romanian VAT number is the cod de înregistrare în scopuri de TVA, the VAT identification code. It starts with RO, the ISO code of the issuing state. Every EU VAT number starts with its own state's code (Fiscal Code, art. 318(1)). A registered company gives its code to all its suppliers and customers (art. 318(4)(a)).
Greece may use EL and Northern Ireland uses XI, but Romania's prefix is RO. The special code under art. 317 is for a company that is not a normal VAT payer. It serves intra-community acquisitions and cross-border services. It does not make the company a normally registered VAT person (art. 317(10)). A buyer meets the number as an attribute of the company being bought. See our shelf companies overview for what such a company is.
Is the CUI the same as the VAT number?
No. A number without RO is a CUI (cod unic de înregistrare). A company has a CUI whether or not it is registered for VAT (Fiscal Procedure Code, art. 82(1)(b)). The table sorts the identifiers readers confuse. Another guide explains the difference between the CUI, the CIF and the NIF of a foreign shareholder.
| Identifier | What it is | Who allocates it | A VAT number? |
|---|---|---|---|
| CUI (cod unic de înregistrare) | The fiscal code of a company registered at the Trade Register | Allocated through the Trade Register | No, not on its own |
| CIF (cod de identificare fiscală) | The generic term for a fiscal identification code; for a Trade Register company it is the CUI | Through the Trade Register, when it is the CUI | No |
| VAT number | RO plus the CUI, for a company registered under art. 316 of the Fiscal Code | ANAF registers the company | Yes |
| Special art. 317 code | The code for intra-community acquisitions and cross-border services of a company outside normal VAT | Registration under art. 317 | Yes, with RO, but not a normal VAT registration |
| J number (număr de ordine în registrul comerțului) | A trade-register identifier printed on the registration certificate | The Trade Register | No |
| EUID | The European unique identifier printed on the registration certificate | The Trade Register | No |
| NIF (număr de identificare fiscală) | The tax number of a non-resident individual who becomes a shareholder or administrator | Requested through the Trade Register | No |
What does a Romanian VAT number look like?
The structure is RO followed by the company's CUI. RO is the ISO country code that art. 318(1) of the Fiscal Code requires. The European Commission's VIES tool uses the same prefix for Romania.
Anatomy of the number
RO
CUI
placeholder no digits
RO
the ISO 3166 alpha-2 code of the issuing state
CUI
the company's fiscal code, allocated through the Trade Register
Length and check digit
set by ANAF, not stated in the law
ANAF sets the structure of the CUI (Law 265/2022, art. 126(3), 2022 text). The law therefore prints no length and no check digit. No official source we checked gives either. A sample with digits would be an invented figure, so none is printed.
How do I check a Romanian VAT number?
Check in this order. A counterparty checks because a buyer whose supplier's registration was cancelled loses the input-VAT deduction (Fiscal Code, art. 11(9)).
Read the number
It is RO plus the CUI (art. 318(1)). A number without RO is a CUI, not a VAT number.
Check it in VIES
Choose Romania in the Commission's VIES tool and enter the number. VIES confirms that the number is valid. It also shows the name and address, subject to the member state's data-protection rules (Regulation 904/2010, art. 31).
Search the ANAF register
Enter the fiscal code, the CUI without RO, in the register of VAT-registered persons. The register asks for a validation code.
Read the cancelled and inactive registers
A cancellation is entered in the public register of cancelled registrations within 3 days of the decision being communicated (art. 316(15)). Search the register of inactive taxpayers by fiscal code.
Check the Ministry of Finance lookup
The lookup by CUI shows registration data, filed obligations (VAT included) and six years of balance sheets.
If in doubt, ask ANAF
Use the web form to ask ANAF to verify a VAT code. The answer comes by e-mail. The form page states no response time.
The six places a Romanian VAT number can be checked, and what each one shows.
| Tool | Searched by | What it shows | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIES | The full number, with Romania chosen from the drop-down menu | Whether the number is valid, with name and address subject to data-protection rules | European Commission; Regulation 904/2010, art. 31 |
| ANAF register of VAT-registered persons | Fiscal code (the CUI without RO), plus a validation code | Whether the company is registered for VAT under art. 316 | ANAF |
| Register of cancelled registrations | A public register shown on the ANAF site | Whether a registration was cancelled; entered within 3 days of the decision being communicated | Fiscal Code, art. 316(15) |
| Register of inactive taxpayers | Fiscal code | Whether the company is inactive or reactivated | ANAF |
| Ministry of Finance lookup | The CUI | Registration data, filed obligations (VAT included) and six years of balance sheets | Ministry of Finance |
| ANAF verification form | A web form; the answer goes by e-mail | ANAF's answer on the VAT code | ANAF |
How does a company get a Romanian VAT number?
The company applies to the competent tax office itself. The administrator files, and an accountant or a lawyer may act for the company. This site registers no company for VAT.
Above the ceiling
The ceiling is 395,000 lei of annual turnover. It was raised from 300,000 lei on 1 September 2025 (OG 22/2025). A company above it must apply at the latest on the day it passes it (art. 310(1), art. 316(1)(b)).
Below the ceiling, by option
Below the ceiling a company may opt into normal VAT at any time (art. 310(3)). An existing company that opts in is registered from the date of its request (art. 316(1^1)(c)).
With the Trade Register filing
If the company applies together with the Trade Register filing, the registration runs from the Trade Register date (art. 316(1^1)(a)).
The risk analysis afterwards
ANAF registers first, and a risk analysis (analiză de risc) follows (art. 316(9)). The 2021 procedure (Order 239/2021) applies to a request under art. 316(1)(b) or (c). It checks inactivity and the fiscal record before the certificate is sent. If it finds a ground, the result is a cancellation decision dated as the registration. The texts we checked set no term for the analysis or for ANAF's decision on a request. We give none.
Which risk criteria does ANAF apply to a registered company?
High fiscal risk is a ground for cancelling a VAT registration (Fiscal Code, art. 316(11)(h)). The methodological norms set the criteria. Annex 6 to the VAT norms lists them, and ANAF assesses a registered company against them.
| Annex 6 point | Subject | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Registered office | The seat is at a lawyer's professional seat and is used under a legal-assistance contract, and the company has no secondary premises |
| 1.2 | Registered office | The seat is used under a comodat (free loan) of one year or less and the company has no secondary premises |
| 2.1 | Staff | Fewer than one employee on average; an employee is a person for whom at least 20 hours actually worked in the month are declared |
| 3.1 | Accounts | No person is designated to keep the accounts, including no contract with an active CECCAR member where the accounts are kept under a services contract |
| 4.1 | Returns | Significant inconsistencies in the company's own returns or against its suppliers' and customers' |
| 5.1 | Administrator | At least one administrator who is a natural person, a foreign citizen without Romanian tax residence, and share capital below 45,000 lei |
The annex and the norms do not say how the criteria combine. We can say only that ANAF assesses against them. The 45,000 lei in point 5.1 is a risk line, not a minimum share capital. Point 1.2 is quoted as the annex writes it.
How is a Romanian VAT number lost?
Art. 316(11) of the Fiscal Code lists the grounds on which ANAF cancels a registration. Five of them bear on the buyer of a dormant company.
| Ground | Article | Trigger | Effective from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inactivity | art. 316(11)(a) | The company is declared inactive under the Fiscal Procedure Code, art. 92, whose grounds include no return of any kind in a calendar half-year and, from 1 January 2026, no payment account in Romania or Treasury account, or annual accounts filed more than 5 months late | The date of the inactivity declaration |
| Fiscal record | art. 316(11)(c) | Offences in the fiscal record (cazier fiscal) of the majority shareholders, the sole shareholder, the administrators or the company; a majority shareholder holds at least 50% of the capital (norms, pt. 88(18)) | The communication of ANAF's decision |
| No returns | art. 316(11)(d) | No VAT return for 6 consecutive months (monthly filer) or 2 consecutive quarters (quarterly filer) | The first day of the month after the deadline of the sixth monthly or second quarterly return |
| Nil returns | art. 316(11)(e) | Returns for the same periods show no purchases of goods or services and no supplies or services rendered | The same date as for no returns |
| High fiscal risk | art. 316(11)(h) | Assessed against the Annex 6 criteria | The texts we checked state no effective-date rule |
A company that ceases its economic activity asks for the cancellation itself. It does so within 15 days of the documents showing it (norms to art. 316, pt. 88(12)).
Looking at a company that has a VAT code?
We read its registers and filings with you before you pay.
Can a dormant company with a VAT number stay dormant?
Not without losing the code. No VAT return for 6 consecutive months, or 2 consecutive quarters, cancels it (Fiscal Code, art. 316(11)(d)). Returns showing no purchases and no supplies cancel it just as surely (art. 316(11)(e)). That is why a Romanian VAT number disappears after six quiet months.
The six-month clock
computed an illustration computed from the statute, not a statutory example law a ground set by the Code
track one
A monthly filer files nothing
- computed from January to June
The June return falls due
- computed 25 July
The VAT code is lost
- computed from 1 August
- law art. 316(11)(d)-(e)
track two
An inactivity ground
- law no payment account in Romania
- law or annual accounts filed more than 5 months late
The inactivity declaration
The VAT code goes with it
- law art. 316(11)(a)
From 1 January 2026 two further grounds make a company inactive. One is no payment account in Romania. The other is annual accounts filed more than 5 months late (Fiscal Procedure Code, art. 92, as amended by Law 239/2025). The VAT code goes with the inactivity declaration (art. 316(11)(a)). A company not reactivated within one year of it is dissolved (art. 92(4^1)).
What does a cancelled number cost a company and its customers?
A cancellation changes who can deduct VAT. That is why counterparties check the registers. The effects below follow from art. 11 and art. 318 of the Fiscal Code.
The company
While the code is cancelled, the company deducts no input VAT on its purchases. It still owes the VAT it collects on its taxable supplies (art. 11(8)).
Its customers
The company's customers lose the input-VAT deduction on what they buy from it once the company is in the register of cancelled registrations (art. 11(9)). The entry is made within 3 days of the decision being communicated (art. 316(15)).
The past
A cancellation does not wipe out liability for the period before it (art. 318(2)).
How does a lost VAT number come back?
After the fiscal-record ground
The company may ask for re-registration even before the situation ends. This works if the shareholders whose record caused the cancellation are no longer the majority (art. 316(12)(b)).
After missing returns
The company files the missing returns. A reasoned request undertakes to file on time (art. 316(12)(c)).
After nil returns
The company gives a sworn declaration that it will carry on economic activity. The registration date is the date the decision is communicated (art. 316(12)(d)).
After high fiscal risk
The code can return once the company no longer meets the risk criteria (art. 316(12)(e)).
On re-registration ANAF gives back the code the company had before (norms to art. 316, pt. 88(19)). ANAF pays the first refund claim after a registration only after an advance tax audit (inspecție fiscală anticipată; Fiscal Procedure Code, art. 169(3)(d)). Since Order ANAF 1123/2026 the same rule covers the first claim after a re-registration. The texts we checked give no decision term.
What should a buyer check on a company's VAT number before paying?
Use these checks to verify a company's VAT code before you buy it. Each line is a check, not a verdict on whether to buy. The wider due diligence is on the page about buying an existing Romanian business.
- The number validates in VIES and appears in the ANAF register.
- It is absent from the register of cancelled registrations and the inactive-taxpayer register.
- The returns for the last 6 months or 2 quarters are filed. They show at least some purchases or supplies (art. 316(11)(d)-(e)).
- A Romanian payment account exists and the annual accounts are filed in time (art. 92).
- The seat is not at a lawyer's professional seat under a legal-assistance contract with no other premises. It is not used under a comodat of one year or less with no other premises either (Annex 6).
- The company has at least one employee on average and a person designated to keep the accounts.
- No foreign administrator without Romanian tax residence combined with share capital below 45,000 lei.
- A buyer who will hold 50% or more can request their own fiscal record certificate on ANAF form 502.
- For the transfer the buyer may request the certificat de atestare fiscală, the company's tax certificate.
What happens to the VAT number after a share transfer?
The detail is on the page about transferring a Romanian company to its buyer. Four steps bear on the VAT code.
A Bar-registered lawyer drafts the acts
The deed (cesiune de părți sociale) and the amendment of the articles are a lawyer's work (Law 51/1995, art. 3(1)(c)). Holders of at least three quarters of the capital must approve a transfer to an outsider, unless the articles say otherwise (Law 31/1990, art. 202(2), text of January 2024).
The seller, the buyer or the company notifies ANAF within 15 days of the transfer
Since 9 March 2026 this covers the shares of any SRL member (OUG 13/2026, art. I). The form, the channel and the attachments follow the draft of July 2026 only. We do not describe them here.
The company files at the Trade Register
The administrator files the application. An attorney may file it under a notarised power of attorney (or a lawyer's mandate). Law 31/1990, art. 36(1), states the attorney rule for a first registration. A change is filed the same way. The registrar decides within one working day of the filing (Law 265/2022, art. 105(1), 2022 text).
A non-resident individual receives a NIF
A non-resident individual who becomes a shareholder or administrator gets it through the Trade Register. The answer comes on the day of the request or at the latest the next day (Fiscal Procedure Code, art. 83).
Analysis, not a stated rule: the company keeps its CUI. The CUI is used for the company's whole existence (Law 265/2022, art. 127(2), 2022 text). ANAF withdraws it only when the company ceases to exist (Fiscal Procedure Code, art. 90(3)). No text says the VAT code survives. It stays exposed to the Annex 6 criteria. It is also exposed to the buyer's own fiscal record once the buyer holds 50% or more of the capital. No text says a transfer starts an ANAF review.
What keeps a Romanian VAT number alive?
The buyer inherits these obligations. The company, or the accountant it engages, carries them out. This guide names them and performs none.
- The VAT return (decont de taxă), form 300, by the 25th of the month after each period (art. 323(1)).
- Quarterly returns where last year's turnover was at most EUR 100,000, if the conditions are met. Otherwise the returns are monthly (art. 322).
- Returns that show real purchases or supplies, so that no six-month nil run builds up.
- The recapitulative statement, form 390, for intra-community operations (art. 325(1)). Invoicing is covered in the RO e-Factura system.
- A Romanian payment account, without which the company is declared inactive from 2026.
- Annual accounts filed on time. Filing more than 5 months late makes the company inactive. See the annual accounts guide.
- Books kept by the company's own accounting staff or under a services contract with a CECCAR member (Law 82/1991, art. 10, 2008 text). Annex 6 point 3.1 ties this to the code.
- A request to cancel within 15 days of the documents showing it, if the company ceases its activity.
A registered company charges two VAT rates under its number: 21% standard and 11% reduced. Both have applied since 1 August 2025 (Law 141/2025; Fiscal Code, art. 291). These rates are covered in the Romanian VAT rates guide.
The other taxes have their own guides. The general view is in the Romanian taxes guide. Salary and dividends are in how a founder's salary and dividends are taxed in Romania and the tax on dividends from a Romanian SRL. Two more are the Romanian withholding tax guide and the micro-company tax in Romania. None of their rates is stated here.
Sources
The statutes and tools linked on this page are listed here, so that any figure can be checked.
- Fiscal Code and its norms: the prefix RO, registration, cancellation, the special code, the ceiling, the rates.
- Annex 6 to the VAT norms: the high-fiscal-risk criteria.
- Fiscal Procedure Code: the CUI as fiscal code, the NIF, inactivity.
- ANAF register of VAT-registered persons: searched by fiscal code.
- ANAF register of inactive or reactivated taxpayers: searched by fiscal code.
- ANAF web form to verify a VAT code: the answer goes by e-mail.
- Ministry of Finance lookup by CUI: filed obligations and balance sheets.
- VIES: the European Commission's tool for checking a number issued by any member state.
- Regulation (EU) No 904/2010: art. 31, the legal basis of the VIES confirmation.
- OUG 13/2026: art. I, the share-transfer notification for any SRL member.
- Law 265/2022 on the trade register: the CUI and its structure, 2022 text.
The Fiscal Code and norms are the ANAF consolidation to Law 170/2026. The Fiscal Procedure Code is consolidated to OUG 38/2026. Law 265/2022 is the 2022 text. Regulation 904/2010 is read as published in 2010. The joint Order ANAF 1137/2026 and MJ 1967/C/2026 implementing the transfer notification, published on 12 October 2026, is not described on this page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a VAT number in Romania?
It is the cod de înregistrare în scopuri de TVA: the company's CUI with the prefix RO. A company gets it when it is registered for VAT under art. 316 of the Fiscal Code. A special code is given under art. 317. A number without the RO prefix is a CUI, not a VAT number.
What does a Romanian VAT number look like?
RO followed by the CUI. RO is the ISO country code that art. 318(1) of the Fiscal Code requires. ANAF sets the structure of the CUI (Law 265/2022, art. 126(3)). The law therefore prints no length and no check digit. No official source we checked gives either, so we show no sample digits.
What is the ID number of a company in Romania, and is it the VAT number?
A Trade Register company's identification number is its CUI, the fiscal code under art. 82(1)(b) of the Fiscal Procedure Code. It becomes a VAT number only with the prefix RO, and only if the company is registered for VAT. A foreign individual's tax number is a different identifier, the NIF.
How do I know my VAT number in Romania?
If the company is registered for VAT, its VAT number is RO plus its CUI. The company gives it to its suppliers and customers (art. 318(4)(a)). You can see whether it is registered in the ANAF register of VAT-registered persons, searched by CUI. The CUI itself is printed on the company's registration certificate.
How do I check a Romanian VAT number?
Use VIES. It confirms validity, with the name and address subject to data-protection rules. Then search the ANAF register of VAT-registered persons by fiscal code. ANAF also publishes the register of cancelled registrations and the register of inactive taxpayers. The Ministry of Finance lookup by CUI adds the filed obligations.
What is the current VAT rate in Romania?
The standard rate is 21% and the one reduced rate is 11%. Both have applied since 1 August 2025 under Law 141/2025 (Fiscal Code, art. 291). A registered company charges them under its VAT number. For the detail, see the Romanian VAT rates guide.
Does every Romanian company have to register for VAT?
No. Below 395,000 lei of annual turnover a Romanian-seated company may stay exempt. It may also opt into normal VAT at any time. Above the ceiling it applies at the latest on the day it passes it. A registration applied for together with the Trade Register filing runs from the Trade Register date.
Can ANAF refuse or take away a Romanian VAT number?
ANAF registers first and analyses risk afterwards (art. 316(9)). For a request under art. 316(1)(b) or (c), the 2021 procedure (Order 239/2021) checks inactivity and the fiscal record first. If a ground applies, the certificate comes with a cancellation decision dated as the registration. Cancellation for high fiscal risk uses Annex 6, which does not say how its criteria combine.
How is a Romanian VAT code lost?
ANAF cancels it under art. 316(11) when one of these applies. The company is declared inactive. Offences appear in the fiscal record of a majority shareholder, the sole shareholder, an administrator or the company. No VAT return is filed for 6 months, or 2 quarters. The returns show no transactions. ANAF finds high fiscal risk.
Can a dormant company with a VAT code stay dormant?
Not without losing the code. Nil returns for 6 months cancel it as surely as no returns (art. 316(11)(d)-(e)). From 1 January 2026 two more things make a company inactive: no payment account in Romania, or annual accounts filed more than 5 months late. The VAT code goes with the inactivity declaration.
How does a company get a cancelled VAT code back?
It asks for re-registration under art. 316(12). The route depends on the ground. The company files the missing returns with a reasoned request, gives a sworn declaration of activity, or shows the risk has ended. Or the offending shareholders are no longer the majority. ANAF gives back the code the company had before. No decision term is stated.
What happens to the customers of a company whose VAT code was cancelled?
Its customers lose the input-VAT deduction on what they buy from it once the company is in the register of cancelled registrations (art. 11(9)). The entry is made within 3 days of the decision being communicated (art. 316(15)). That is why counterparties check a supplier's status before they deal with it.
Does a ready-made company keep its VAT code after I buy it?
The company keeps its CUI. The law does not promise the VAT code. The code stays exposed to every cancellation ground, including the buyer's own fiscal record once the buyer holds 50% or more of the capital. No text says the code survives a transfer. No text says a transfer starts a review.
Why might a Romanian number not show in VIES, and do I need a separate EU number?
A cancelled registration is one explanation. The texts do not say whether a valid code can fail to show in VIES for another reason, or whether it needs a further step. ANAF also runs a web form to have a code verified. The Fiscal Code has no register of intra-community operators any more (art. 329 is printed as repealed).
Does a foreign owner need a Romanian tax number?
A non-resident individual who becomes a shareholder or administrator receives a tax number, the NIF, through the Trade Register (Fiscal Procedure Code, art. 83(1)). The Register answers the request on the day it is made or at the latest the next day (art. 83(2)). A company's own identifier is its CUI, which a share transfer does not change.