Before you start

CNP and residence permit
Determination of Romanian tax residence
Employer payroll registration, or ANAF registration if self-employed
Records of foreign income and assets

Step-by-step

1
Establish whether you are a Romanian tax resident
Romania applies domicile, centre of vital interests and presence over 183 days in any 12 consecutive months. Residence brings worldwide income into scope, generally from the year following determination. Get it determined explicitly if you have income elsewhere.
OnlineWho: You
2
Let payroll handle it if you are a straightforward employee
Employers withhold the 25% pension contribution, the 10% health contribution and the 10% income tax, and file monthly. Most employees never submit anything to ANAF. Check the first payslip line by line.
Via employerWho: You
3
Reprice any offer that assumes the IT exemption
The income tax exemption for software development staff was removed with effect from 1 January 2025. If a recruiter, calculator or offer letter shows an IT net figure without income tax, it is using pre-2025 rules and the real net is lower. In Cluj this is the single most common salary misunderstanding.
Via employerWho: You
4
File the single declaration if you have other income
Rent, freelance work, dividends, capital gains and foreign income go on the Declarația Unică, filed through the ANAF SPV online portal. Registering for the SPV early is the only sane way to deal with ANAF.
OnlineWho: You
5
Pay local property tax at the city hall, not a sector office
Cluj-Napoca has one local tax administration for the whole city. If you own property here, the tax is declared and paid there, with an early-payment discount for settling the full year in the first months.
In personWho: You
6
Re-model any microenterprise structure against 2026 rules
The Romanian microenterprise regime was the standard contractor vehicle in Cluj for years. The revenue ceiling fell to €100,000 from January 2026, the brief 3% rate for custom software development was withdrawn, and dividend tax rose from 10% to 16%. The arithmetic that made it attractive in 2022 no longer holds.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

CNP and residence permit
Annual income statement from the employer
ANAF SPV online portal credentials
Records of foreign income and assets
Local tax decisions from Cluj-Napoca city hall, if you own property or a vehicle

Things most newcomers don’t know

The IT exemption is the reason Cluj is a tech city, and it is gone.

For roughly two decades employees doing software development work paid no personal income tax on that salary, subject to conditions on qualification and employer revenue. That incentive, plus a very large engineering university and world-class fibre, is what turned Cluj from a university town into Romania's tech capital. The exemption was narrowed in 2023 and 2024 and removed entirely from 1 January 2025. Engineers now pay the ordinary 10%. Salary calculators, forums and even some recruiters still quote net figures built on it — treat any unusually high net as an error, not an offer.

Source: ANAF; Romanian Fiscal Code amendments

The microenterprise route that half of Cluj's contractors used has been narrowed twice.

The microenterprise regime allowed a small company to pay tax on turnover rather than profit at a very low rate, and it was the standard structure for Cluj's large independent contractor population. The revenue ceiling fell from €500,000 to €250,000 and then to €100,000 from January 2026, the brief 3% rate for custom software development was withdrawn, and dividend tax rose from 10% to 16% in the same package. A structure a colleague set up in 2022 and still recommends may now be worse than plain employment. Model it against current rules before incorporating.

Source: ANAF; 2026 Romanian budget law

The flat 10% headline is the smallest of the three deductions, and it always was.

Romania markets the lowest headline income tax rate in the EU. Underneath it sit a 25% employee pension contribution and a 10% employee health contribution, taken from gross before the income tax applies. Employee deductions total roughly 45% of gross. Comparing a Cluj tech offer to a Western European one on the headline rate produces conclusions that are wrong by tens of percentage points.

Source: ANAF

One city hall, one local tax office, one early-payment discount — and it is easy to miss the first year.

Unlike Bucharest's six sector administrations, Cluj-Napoca has a single local tax authority. That simplicity has a downside: no reminder arrives for a new property owner, and the discount for paying the full year in the first months — commonly in the region of 10% — is straightforwardly lost by anyone who did not know it existed. Ask at the city hall in your first January rather than waiting for a bill.

Source: Cluj-Napoca city hall

Common mistakes to avoid

Accepting a Cluj salary figure calculated on the pre-2025 IT income tax exemption.
Comparing a Romanian offer to a Western one on the 10% headline rate alone.
Setting up a microenterprise on advice that predates the 2026 threshold and dividend changes.
Missing the city hall's early-payment discount on local property tax.
Failing to register for the ANAF SPV portal and then dealing with them on paper.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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