Quick overview
| Standard Rate | Other Rates |
| 19% | 5% and 9% |
The local name for VAT in Romania is Taxa pe valoarea adaugataTaxa pe valoarea adaugata.
Recently, Romania announced a last minute delay of 5% VAT on residential properties up to 140,000 EUR. For more information about (recent) rate change developments in Romania, please click here.
Standard rate: 19%
This is in place since 1 January 2017. Before that, the standard rate was 20%. This rate applies for all transactions that take place in Romania, unless an exception applies (such as a reduced rate, the zero rate or an exemption, or a reason to treat the transaction as outside scope of VAT).
Zero rate (0%)
Romania applies various exemptions with a refund of tax paid at preceding stages (zero rates), such as intra-Community and international transport, intra-Community supplies of goods, exports of goods (and related services) to non-EU countries, and services to goods and goods under customs control.
Reduced rate 1: 9%
Examples of transactions subject to this rate are:
- Foodstuffs, including beverages (apart from alcoholic beverages), intended for human and animal consumption, live animals and poultry of domestic species, seeds, plants and ingredients used in the preparation of foodstuffs, products used to supplement or replace foodstuffs.
- Supply of water for irrigation in agriculture; water supply and sewerage services.
- Supply of medicines for human and veterinary use.
- Supply of orthopaedic products and prostheses of any type and their accessories, with the exception of dental prostheses.
- Supply of fertilisers and pesticides used in agriculture, seeds and other agricultural products for sowing or planting, and specific agricultural services
Reduced rate 2: 5%
Examples of transactions subject to this rate are:
- High quality foods (mountain, eco and traditional products, authorised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development)
- Transport of persons by historic trains or vehicles with steam traction along narrow lines for tourist or leisure purposes; transportation of persons using cable transport facilities – cable car, gondola, chairlift, ski lift – for tourist or leisure purposes; transport of persons with vehicles with animal traction, used for tourist or recreational purposes; transport of persons with boats used for tourist or leisure purposes.
- Supply of school textbooks, books, newspapers and magazines, except those intended exclusively or mainly for advertising.
- Admission to castles, museums, memorial houses, historical monuments, architectural and archaeological monuments, zoological and botanical gardens, fairs, exhibitions and cultural events, cinemas (other than those exempted).
- Admission to amusement parks
- Delivery of housing as part of social policy, including the land on which the houses are built.
- Accommodation in the hotel sector or sectors with similar function, including renting of camping sites. In case of half board, full board or all inclusive accommodation, the 5% rate applies to the total price of accommodation which may include alcoholic beverages
- Restaurant and catering services, excluding alcoholic beverages other than draft beer (Combined Nomenclature Code 22 03 00 10)
- Admission to sporting events
- Use of sporting facilities for the purpose of practicing sport and physical education.
For a description of how the VAT rates are structured in the European Union, please see here. The European Commission has also made an EU VAT rate database available where you can find the applicable VAT rate by entering the CN/CPA code of the goods respectively services (you can find more information here).
A global VAT/GST rate overview can be found here (note this is a work in progress).
This post was last updated on 6 April 2021.
