The personal number in Romania: the CNP comes with your certificate, and then the tax office follows

Which number do you need in Romania to arrange anything? The cod numeric personal, the CNP: thirteen digits, the Romanian counterpart of your BSN. You don't get it on its own. Article 41 of the ordinance on free movement provides that every EU citizen registered by the immigration service IGI receives a CNP, entered on the residence document. The pitfall is that the rest waits for it, and that the tax agency then has a deadline of its own: after 183 days in Romania the ANAF wants a questionnaire on your tax residence within thirty days.

How do you get the CNP?

Through the registration certificate, which you apply for within three months of arrival at the territorial unit of the IGI in your județ. The certificate is issued the same day, with your name, your address and your CNP on it. It is a paper, not a card; keep it safe, because you report loss or theft within 48 hours to the police and to the IGI. Anyone who works as a frontier worker without living in Romania gets, under article 41, a CNP but no residence document.

If your name, nationality or address changes, you report that within thirty days to the same unit. Anyone who forgets, or registers late, risks a fine of 25 to 50 lei: not an amount to lose sleep over, but a certificate with an old address causes discussion at every next counter.

Which counters wait for the CNP?

Counter	What	Deadline
IGI	registration certificate with CNP	within 3 months of arrival, ready the same day
IGI	change of name, nationality or address	within 30 days
ANAF	tax residence questionnaire on arrival	within 30 days after you have been in Romania 183 days
ANAF	reply to the questionnaire	within 30 days of filing
Local tax office of your municipality	registering your car for tax before the plates	before registration with the DGPCI
Health fund (casa de asigurări de sănătate)	registering your S1 and choosing a family doctor	after registration with the IGI

The bank. EURES writes that the number on your residence document matters in your relationship with the banks, when opening an account. How that goes, and why your Dutch account suffices for now, is in bank and payments in Romania.

The tax agency. The ANAF identifies individuals by the CNP. If you work, your employer uses it for payroll; if you let, sell, or receive a pension from the Netherlands that has to be declared in Romania, that runs through your own return on that number. More in AOW, pension and tax in Romania.

Healthcare. Anyone arriving with an S1 from the CAK has it registered at the health fund of their județ and chooses a family doctor; according to the European Commission's guide, every insured person must be on a family doctor's list. See healthcare in Romania.

The car. The driving licence and registration service requires your proof of ownership to be registered with the local tax office of your place of residence before it registers the car. That local office is a municipal counter, and there too they ask for your CNP. How the car continues is covered separately.

What does the ANAF want after 183 days?

The questionnaire has its own clock. Anyone who arrives in Romania and is there for more than 183 days in total within a twelve-month period must file the "Chestionar pentru stabilirea rezidenței fiscale a persoanei fizice la sosirea în România", within thirty days after those 183 days are complete. With it the ANAF assesses whether you become a tax resident, and lets you know within thirty days of filing. Put the day of arrival in your diary and count 183 days on; the IGI will not remind you.

According to the guide you become a tax resident if your home is in Romania, if the centre of your vital interests is there, or if you are there for more than 183 days in twelve months. With the questionnaire you attach evidence such as your tenancy agreement or title deed. Anyone who leaves later files the mirror-image questionnaire thirty days before departure.

What isn't needed?

Your driving licence. An EU driving licence doesn't have to be exchanged, and the driving licence service answers the question whether a move obliges you to get a new licence simply: not obligatory.

A separate tax number. For an individual the CNP is at the same time the tax identification number; a separate number at the ANAF only comes into play when you register a business, see working in Romania.

Why the order matters

The certificate is the first step, not a formality for later. A tenancy agreement in your name, proof of your means and, for pensioners, the S1 must therefore already be there when you go to the IGI. Then the clocks of the ANAF and of the car run. How those fit into your first weeks, and into the rest of the move, is in the step-by-step plan for Romania.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Romania or go straight to step 4.1 in the open plan.