Single Declaration - key insights to file form 212

Publishing date: 22 November 2022

The purpose of this form is to clearly establish the tax liability of individuals and companies as a result of obtaining money from various activities that have not been taxed in any way. The income for which Form 212 must be filed is quite varied and, for this reason, it is important for any taxpayer to know useful information about the deadline for filing, how to fill it in and the categories of income to be included in this respect.

In the article below you will find out what the single tax return is and what the filing deadline is, who files it, and how to do it. You will also find out which are the main categories of income that are subject to the obligation to fill in form 212 (rents, income from liberal professions, investments, dividends) and what are the legislative news concerning this declaration for 2023.

Contents

1. What is the single declaration?

1.1. How to fill in the declaration?

1.2. Deadline for submitting the declaration

1.3. How to submit Form 212

2. Who has to submit the single declaration?

2.1. Single declaration on rental income

2.2. Single declaration on professional income

2.3. Single declaration on investment income

2.4. Single declaration for cryptocurrency income and social media promotion

3. Legislative news for the single return filed in 2023

What is the single declaration?

The national tax agency of the Romanian state (ANAF) has as its main task to establish the tax debts of Romanian citizens, resulting from various types of income. As far as the taxation of salaries is concerned, there are no additional obligations for citizens, as this is done by the employer. On the other hand, persons who earn income from self-employment are required to submit a special annual declaration, known as the single declaration.

The purpose of this form is based on the principle that all income must be taxed. Self-employed activities are not subject to taxation before the income is earned and, for this reason, persons earning such income must declare it to ANAF so that this agency can establish the amount of money due as tax to the Romanian state.

The declaration is used to establish the amount of income tax due from these activities, and there are two circumstances in this regard. For persons with net incomes not exceeding the amount of twelve gross minimum wages over a period of one year, only income tax (10%) is payable. If the income exceeds this limit, CAS (25%) and CASS (10%) are payable in addition. Tax payments can be made directly to the treasury units by cash or card or by bank transfer, online or by bank transfer.

1.1. How to fill in the declaration?

The single return can be completed electronically, remotely or on paper at the tax office's registry. For correct completion, the taxpayer's identification data must be filled in, including the personal number code for individuals and the tax identification code for legal entities. The taxpayer's bank code, which must be IBAN, and the taxpayer's address for tax purposes must also be entered in this box.

In the second part of the document, the headings which certify the types of income earned and the annual tax due (gross income, deductible expenses, net income, tax loss, annual tax due) are marked. There is also a special section on tax assessment for income earned abroad.

Filling in form 212 is quite difficult and there is a possibility of various errors. For this reason, the legislation allows it to be rectified (single corrective return) whenever necessary, but within the deadline set out in the tax regulations. Specifically, persons who have to submit this declaration for self-employed income earned during 2022 have the possibility to submit as many amending declarations as they wish until 25 May 2023, without exceeding the deadline.

1.2. Deadline for submitting the declaration

For income earned during 2021, the deadline for filing was 25 May 2022. Taxpayers therefore had sufficient time to calculate this income. For income realised in 2022, ANAF has specified that the maximum deadline for filing the single return is 25 May 2023, which includes this day.

In addition to this general situation, there are two special circumstances which oblige certain persons to file this return outside the usual date. Firstly, persons who start a contractual activity during the tax year or who obtain income from the transfer of the use of goods are required to submit a single return within 30 days of the event. Secondly, it concerns persons who conclude such an activity, for whom the deadline for filing is the same, 30 days from the date of cessation of the activity or termination of the contract.

1.3. How to submit Form 212

The single declaration (form 212) is a document that can be filled in by interested persons in several ways. Firstly, there is the option of completion by the individual concerned directly.

• Directly on the ANAF website, where a special platform is available, which can be accessed by any taxpayer;
• By means of the "personal virtual space" service made available to citizens by the Romanian State;
• By visiting the ANAF counter, where there are computers for electronic filing of the declaration (useful for people who do not have a computer connected to the online environment or who do not have sufficient computer skills to complete the task).

Secondly, there is the possibility of using the services of a specialised tax consultancy firm, which offers a wide range of services to both individual and legal clients to ensure the timely and correct submission of the 212 form. The service is particularly useful for people who earn large amounts of self-employed income from numerous sources. These taxpayers can benefit from the extensive knowledge of employees on taxation in Romania and even obtain various tax incentives made available by the Romanian state to support certain vulnerable economic areas.

2. Who has to submit the single declaration?

Individuals and legal entities who earn income from self-employed activities that have not been taxed are required to file Form 212. There is also the possibility for people who do not earn income but wish to benefit from social health insurance to pay it personally and submit this single declaration.

The main categories of taxpayers who have to file form 212 are people who earn income from the liberal professions (journalists, consultants, doctors, lawyers, notaries, actors, licensed natural persons - PFA, etc.), those who are self-employed, people who earn income from rents, dividends, cryptocurrency transactions, gambling or even those who earn money from promoting various products on social media.

2.1. Single declaration on rental income

Persons earning income from renting and subletting must submit this declaration stating the income received in the previous year from the following activities:

• Renting and subletting of movable and immovable property;
• Renting agricultural property;
• Renting rooms in personally owned apartments or houses for tourism purposes.

2.2. Single declaration on professional income

People who practice liberal professions do not usually pay taxes at the time of carrying out their activities and, for this reason, they must annually calculate the amounts received to establish their net income and to calculate the tax due to the Romanian state. The amount of this tax is 10% if the total income does not exceed 12 gross minimum wages and 45% for persons exceeding this limit. 

2.3. Single declaration on investment income

Individuals earning income from various investments must file a single return. The categories of income subject to this obligation are those from dividends, interest, transfer of securities, transfer of financial gold and from the liquidation of a legal person. The tax is set at 10% of the amount of such income, except for dividends, which are taxed at source at 5%. In this case, too, the rule is that if the income exceeds the value of 12 gross minimum wages per country, the CAS and CASS will also be payable.

2.4. Single declaration for cryptocurrency income and social media promotion

Income obtained online through trading cryptocurrencies, NFTs or social media promotion is increasingly important and, for this reason, the Romanian state has introduced the obligation for people involved in such transactions to have their income taxed by calculating it and filing a single tax return.

As regards cryptocurrencies, a 10% rate is applied to the total gains, which is calculated by subtracting the purchase price from the sale price. There is also a category of persons exempt from this tax, namely those who have not exceeded the limit of 200 lei per transaction and who have not earned more than 600 lei in total in the previous tax year. For income from promotion on various social media platforms, not only the amount of money earned but also other rewards such as goods, holidays or travel are taken into account.

3. Legislative news for the single return filed in 2023

For tax year 2023 there are some changes to the single return. ANAF states that these changes are the result of legislation that brought changes to the tax code. These changes include:

• With regard to the determination of the tax base for the transfer of use of goods, the annual taxable income is the gross income;
• Individuals who receive pension income from abroad must pay tax on payments exceeding 4000 lei per month;
• Individuals earning income from self-employment and intellectual property rights must file a declaration if the money comes from one or more sources and has a cumulative value at least equal to at least 12 gross minimum wages per country;
• Change in the annual basis for calculating social security and health insurance contributions. In this regard, it is specified that this base may not be lower than the level of 12 gross minimum wages per country for income between 12 and 24 gross minimum wages per country and 24 gross minimum wages per country for income exceeding this limit. In the case of social health insurance contributions, the annual calculation base starts at the level of six gross minimum wages per country (for income between 6 and 12 gross minimum wages per country), goes up to 12 gross minimum wages per country (if income is between 12 and 24 gross minimum wages per country) and goes up to the level of 24 gross minimum wages per country for income exceeding this limit.

Another change to the single declaration is also linked to the level of the minimum wage in Romania, which determines whether only income tax or CAS and CASS tax is payable. From 1 January 2023 the minimum wage will increase to 3000 lei per month, which changes the limit between the two circumstances. As regards bonuses, the ANAF has not yet provided whether there are such facilities for taxpayers who make early arrangements with regard to tax assessment for the previous tax year.

In conclusion, individuals and legal entities who are obliged to submit the single tax return should be aware of a number of details regarding the completion procedure and the deadline by which they must be submitted in order to avoid unpleasant circumstances that may result in the payment of heavy fines.

*This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.