Romania SAF-T introduction 2020

Romania’s tax authority, Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală (ANAF), is to introduce Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T) VAT transactional reporting by the end of 2020.

Romania is planning to make the transactional data exchange regime mandatory for all VAT registered businesses – resident and non-resident. It is likely though to start a pilot with large tax payers first, possibly at the start of 2020. In the mid-term, ANAF wishes to reduce the number of VAT-related returns on the basis of improved information from SAF-T.

ANAF has been backed by an EU funding grant.

SAF-T was developed by the OECD in 2005 as a standard schema for the exchange of transaction data for VAT and other tax reporting purposes. The aim was to have a harmonised data exchange format internationally to help companies efficiently exchange information with the tax authorities. It has been adopted in seven European countries, including: Portugal; Austria; Luxembourg; France; Poland; Lithuania; and Norway. Hungary is looking to be the eighth country in two years’ time. Poland has already announced plans to drop the requirement for VAT returns, replacing it with SAF-T submissions.