Working in Romania: no permit, ten percent tax, and 35 percent in contributions at your expense

Do you, as a Dutch citizen, need a work permit to work in Romania? No. The immigration service IGI writes that citizens of EU and EEA countries may work in Romania, employed or self-employed, under the same conditions as Romanians. What it yields depends on the contributions, because the tax is simple: one rate of 10 percent. The find at EURES is who pays those contributions: the employee, 25 percent pension and 10 percent health from gross salary, the employer only 2.25 percent. The pitfall is for anyone who keeps working remotely for a Dutch employer: then social security, not tax, decides what has to happen.

What comes off your salary?

Item	Rate	Who pays
Pension contribution (CAS)	25% of gross salary, of which 4.75% to the private pension fund	employee
Health contribution (CASS)	10% of gross salary	employee
Work insurance	2.25% of gross salary	employer
Income tax	10% on what remains after contributions	withheld by the employer
Minimum wage	4,325 lei gross a month since 1 July 2026, in construction 4,582 lei	—
Average salary, February 2026	9,272 lei gross, 5,557 lei net	—

The employer calculates, withholds and pays everything; you get a payslip every month. Anyone earning the minimum wage is, according to EURES, exempt from tax and contributions on 300 lei a month until 30 June 2026, and on 200 lei after that. Converted, the minimum wage is about 850 euros; the average net salary around 1,090 euros, higher in Bucharest, Cluj, Timiș, Sibiu, Brașov and Iași, and in IT well over double.

The tax treaty places salary with the country where you do the work: article 15. If you live and work in Romania, Romania taxes, and the Dutch return mentions that salary only as exempt income.

Self-employed in Romania

The ANAF says it plainly in its guide for the self-employed: every economic activity carried out permanently, occasionally or temporarily in Romania must be registered and authorised, as a PFA, an individual enterprise or a family enterprise. Anyone working without authorisation risks a fine of 2,000 to 15,000 lei and confiscation of the goods used. Registration runs through the trade register ONRC, and its extract is at the same time the proof of your purpose of stay at the IGI.

Item	Rate or threshold (2025: minimum wage 4,050 lei)
Income tax	10% on net profit after CAS and CASS
Pension contribution (CAS)	25%, compulsory from a net income of 12 minimum wages (48,600 lei), on a base of 12 or 24 minimum wages
Health contribution (CASS)	10% on net profit, on at least 6 minimum wages, on at most 60
Return	the declarația unică, before 25 May of the following year; for 2025 the ANAF sends a pre-filled form in 2026

Below twelve minimum wages of profit you may pay CAS voluntarily; anyone who is a pensioner pays no CAS. Keep accounts and a tax register: the system is "sistem real", tax on actual profit.

Working remotely for a Dutch employer?

First social security, only then tax. If you live in another EU country and work 25 percent or more of your time from your country of residence, you are, according to the SVB, usually socially insured in your country of residence, and no longer in the Netherlands. Your employer then gets obligations in Romania. For anyone who works less than half their time from home there is a framework agreement under which you can, on conditions, remain insured in the Netherlands. Ask the SVB through your employer before departure.

For tax the treaty applies: work you do in Romania is performed in Romania, even if your employer is in the Netherlands.

Is your diploma recognised?

That depends on your profession. If it isn't regulated in Romania, you need no recognition. If it is regulated, you apply for recognition to the competent Romanian authority, which according to Your Europe decides within three months. For doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, architects and veterinary surgeons automatic recognition applies. The country may require a language test for the profession.

What do you need before you start?

Your personal number, which comes with your registration certificate. For that certificate you submit, as an employee, your employment contract and a printout from the employee register, as a self-employed person the extract from the ONRC. If you are still looking for work, you have six months' right of residence to search, and according to EURES you can export Dutch unemployment benefit for three to six months if you register with the employment agency of your județ.

What work means for your healthcare is in healthcare in Romania, and the order of everything in the step-by-step plan for Romania.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 2 of 5 of the journey, step 2.11: 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 2.11 in the open plan.