New legislative changes - RO e-Invoice, RO e-VAT, RO e-Transport

1. Emergency Ordinance no. 69/21 June 2024 (GEO 69/2024) for the amendment and completion of certain normative acts in the field of management and implementation of the national system regarding the electronic invoice RO e-Invoice and the fiscal electronic cash registers, as well as for other fiscal measures.
   
   
2. Emergency Ordinance no. 70/21 June 2024 (GEO 70/2024) regarding certain measures for the implementation and use of the RO e-VAT pre-filled return and the capitalization of data and information through the implementation of a specific governance system, as well as other fiscal measures.
   
   
3. Order no. 1.337/1.268/27 June 2024 for the approval of the Procedure for the use and operation of the national system for monitoring the transport of goods RO e-Transport (RO e-Transport Procedure).
   
   
4. Emergency Ordinance no. 87/28 June 2024 (GEO 87/2024) regarding the amendment of some normative acts in the field of e-Transport, e-VAT and e-Invoice, as well as for the regulation of some fiscal-budgetary measures.

In the context of the digitalization of the tax administration, on 21, 27 and 28 June 2024, three Emergency Ordinances were published in the Official Gazette aiming, on one hand, to expand the coverage area of ​​the RO e-invoice system, as well as regulations regarding fiscal electronic cash registers, and, on the other hand, the introduction of regulations regarding the pre-filled RO e-VAT return and changes concerning reporting in the RO e-Transport system.

On June 28, 2024, the Order regarding the procedure for using the RO e-Transport system was published.

• The expansion of the use of RO e-invoicing for B2C  (business-to-consumer) transactions

Through Emergency Ordinance 69/2024 the use of the electronic invoicing system is extended for B2C transactions carried out by suppliers who are taxable persons established in Romania to customers who are non-taxable persons.

During the  period from July 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024, B2C e-invoice reporting is optional, becoming mandatory starting January 1, 2025, within the deadline of 5 calendar days from the issuance date of the invoice.

• RO e-Invoice enforced executions

The obligation to use the RO e-Invoice system applies to enforcement bodies, including judicial enforcement officers and the National Agency for the Administration of Seized Assets, which issue invoices on behalf and for taxable persons established in Romania for supplies of goods made in the context of enforcement operations or the disposal of movable and immovable assets seized in criminal proceedings.

The invoices thus issued are also sent to the supplier through the RO e-Invoice system.

• RO e-Invoice  for operations outside the scope of VAT

The use of the RO e-Invoice system is not mandatory for invoices issued for operations that are not within the scope of VAT or for amounts that are not included in the taxable amount of VAT.

• Clarifications regarding self-billing in the case of supplies of goods or services to oneself

The self-invoices issued by taxable persons established in Romania for each supply of goods or provision of services to themselves are considered invoices issued in a B2B relationship, so it is mandatory to use the RO e-Invoice system.

• Optional use of the RO e-Invoice system

The use of the national RO e-Invoice system is not mandatory for the supplies of goods / services performed by:

• taxable persons referred to in Art. 294 para. (1) letters j) - n) of Fiscal Code, which regulates certain specific VAT exemptions with deduction right (for example: in favor of diplomatic missions, to the European Community, ECB, EIB, European Commission, NATO);

• until July 1st 2025, institutes / cultural centers of other states operating in Romania based on intergovernmental agreements;

• associations and foundations established under Government Ordinance no. 26/2000, other non- profit / non-patrimonial associations, political parties, religious groups, which are not registered for VAT purposes according to Art. 316 of Law no. 227/2015 for invoices issued during the period July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025;

• farmers, natural persons, who apply the Special Scheme for farmers provided for in Art. 3151 of the Fiscal Code during the period July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025.

The taxable persons mentioned above may opt for the use of the national RO e-Invoice system, situation in which they are registered in the RO e-Invoice Register optionally starting from the 1st of the month following the exercise of the option.

Taxable persons established in Romania, who supply goods / services to the taxable persons mentioned above are required to send the invoices issued through the national RO e-Invoice system only if the beneficiaries have opted for the use of the system.

• Notifying the tax authorities regarding the non-use of RO e-Invoice

For the supplies of goods / services for which payment is made at the time of delivery / supply, beneficiaries who do not receive the invoices through the RO e-Invoice system within the legal deadline can notify the relevant tax authorities accordingly.

• Clarifications regarding the use of RO e-Invoice for taxable persons not established in Romania

Starting from July 1st, taxable persons not established, but registered for VAT purposes in Romania, who have opted for the use of the national RO e-Invoice system, fall under the rules regarding mandatory electronic invoicing applicable to taxable persons established in Romania.

Economic operators not established in Romania, who are registered by option in the RO e-Invoice Register until July 1, 2024, are automatically transferred to the optional RO e-Invoice Register.

• Clarifications regarding the exercise of the option to use the RO e-Invoice system

From the moment of registration by option in the optional RO e-Invoice Register, the issuer also acquires the status of recipient.

• Contraventions applicable in case of electronic invoicing

Is sanctioned with a fine ranging from RON 1,000 to 10,000 RON depending on the category of taxpayer (small, medium, large), the failure to transmit through the RO e-Invoice system the invoices:

• within 5 calendar days from their issuance date, by the issuer, a taxable person established in Romania;

• issued in the B2C relationship, by the supplier, taxable person established in Romania, starting from July 1st, 2025.

The  fine above applies for one or more invoices whose deadline for transmission in the national RO e-Invoice system falls within a calendar month.

Failure to transmit invoices issued by enforcement bodies, including judicial enforcement officers and the National Agency for the Administration of Seized Assets, through the system is sanctioned with a fine ranging from RON 5,000 - 10,000 for each individual invoice.

• Use of fiscal electronic cash registers (AMEF)

The Emergency Ordinance no. 69/2024 provides that the fiscal receipt issued by fiscal electronic cash registers will have to contain, in addition to the already mandatory elements, the unit of measure, the fiscal identification code of the beneficiary, upon their request, as well as the identification number of the receipt.

It establishes the obligation to print on the fiscal receipt, also in the form of a QR code, the date and time of the issuance of the receipt, the identification number of the fiscal receipt, as well as the fiscal series of the electronic fiscal cash register.

In the event that, following testing by National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics - ICI Bucharest, it is found that, from a technical standpoint,  it is not possible to print in the form of a QR code the date and time of the fiscal receipt's issuance, the identification number of the fiscal receipt, as well as the fiscal series of the AMEF, the users of these AMEF’s have the obligation to comply with the legal provisions within a maximum of two years.

• The pre-filled RO e-VAT return

The pre-filled RO e-VAT return contains data and information regarding economic activities declared by taxable persons and transmitted to the IT systems of the Ministry of Finance and NAFA, namely: RO e-Invoice, RO e-Transport, RO e-Seal, RO e-SAF-T, RO e-Electronic cash registers, the integrated customs IT system, other  IT systems of these institutions.

The pre-filled RO e-VAT return is implemented starting August 1, 2024, for transactions carried starting from July 1, 2024, by taxpayers registered for VAT purposes.

The pre-filled RO e-VAT return will be sent via electronic means by the 5th day of the month following the legal deadline for submitting the VAT return.

If NAFA identifies significant differences compared to the pre-filled values, NAFA will notify the taxable person via electronic means, by the 5th of the month following the legal deadline for submitting the VAT return via the form “RO e-VAT compliance notification”.

Significant differences refer to values that exceed the significance threshold that meets the cumulative conditions of at least 20% in percentage and a minimum absolute value of RON 5,000 between the information included in the VAT return and the pre-filled RO e-VAT return (not applicable in relation to the VAT adjustments lines).

After receiving the pre-filled RO e-VAT return, taxable persons registered for VAT purposes verify the pre-filled data and information in accordance with the taxable operations carried out and the actual fiscal situation.

The taxable persons are obliged to respond, via electronic means, to the “RO e-VAT compliance notification”. within 20 days from the date of its receipt.

Failure to comply with this obligation within the legal deadline mentioned above constitutes, in principle, an offence and is sanctioned between RON 5,000 and RON 10,000 for large taxpayers, between RON 2,500 and RON 5,000 for medium taxpayers and RON 1,000 to RON 2,500 for other legal entities and for individuals.

Additionally, the non-provision or the partial provision of the requested information is considered a fiscal risk indicator, which may lead to the initiation of a tax inspection or an anti-fraud investigation.

The obligation to respond to the RO e-VAT compliance notification, the impact over the fiscal risk indicator and the sanctions mentioned above come into force starting with 1st January 2025. In the case of taxable persons applying cash accounting VAT system, the provisions regarding this notification and the resulting obligations and sanctions starting from 1st August 2025.

The RO e-VAT compliance notice does not apply:

• in case of material errors;

• in the situation where there is not enough information from the tax body's databases for certain rows of the pre-filled e-VAT return or this information from the databases is not correlated;

• other situations provided for by order of the Minister of Finance.

Furthermore, according to the amendments to Article 325 of the Fiscal Code, the deadline for submitting the D390 recapitulative statement and its model will be established by an order of the President of NAFA. Although these amendments come into effect starting July 1, 2024, the D390 declaration for June 2024 will be submitted by July 25, 2024, inclusive.

At the time of publishing this tax alert, the ANAF website has published for public debate the Draft Order of the president of ANAF for the approval of the model and content of the form "Pre-filled RO e-VAT Return " for public debate.

• RO e-Transport system

The main clarifications brought by the joint Order of the presidents of NAFA and AVR no.1.337/1.268/27 June, 2024, refer to the following aspects:

• Confirmation that the same reporting criteria apply both to the transport of goods with high fiscal risk and to other types of goods (i.e. the categories of road vehicles subject to monitoring in the RO e-Transport System are those with a technically admissible maximum mass of minimum 2.5 tons, loaded with goods with a total gross weight greater than 500 kg, or a total value greater than 10,000 lei, related to at least one batch of goods)

• It is clarified that, in case of imports, the value of the goods to be reported in RO e-Transport is the value from the external invoice

• If the goods are not received or are partially received by the beneficiary or recipient, it is clarified that the unreceived goods will return to the loading warehouse, or the nearest warehouse of the sender based on the original UIT code

• In case of an international transport of goods with a supplier from Romania, the subsequent return of the goods that were received forms a new batch of goods (for which a new UIT code must be obtained by the original supplier)

• Rules are introduced for reporting in RO e-Transport in case of street sales (Van Sales) - when the beneficiaries are not known at the start of the transport

• “Confirmation of transport” is a step that can be performed after the completion of the transport, however, to the extent that the shipment is not confirmed or denied until the validity of the UIT code expires, the system will automatically consider the shipment as confirmed.

• Clarifications are made regarding the use of devices for automatic transmission of positioning data

• Clarifications regarding the entry into force of the reporting obligations and the sanctions related to their non-compliance (for international transport of goods, the sanctions being applicable starting from July 1, 2024)

• New rules are introduced regarding the determination of the value of goods for which the confiscation measure is disposed - if documents are presented that show an obvious undervaluation of the goods, the value to be confiscated will be determined according to specific criteria provided in the Order

• It is clarified that, if at the time of a check, the RO e-Transport system displays the status ”in processing'', the control bodies will record the findings, without taking any other measures at the time of the inspection

• It is mentioned that shipments of goods with high fiscal risk purchased from cash & carry stores are not subject to RO e-Transport reporting.

Regarding the RO e-Transport system, the Ordinance no. 87/2024 provides that, by way of exception, for users who have the obligation to report international transports of goods and who have the status of authorized economic operator according to the provisions of art. 38 of Regulation (EU) no. 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 9, 2013 establishing the Customs Code of the Union (reform) on the date of the transport, the sanctions for non-compliance with reporting obligations in RO e-Transport will come into force on January 1, 2025, and will apply for acts committed and ascertained from this date onwards.

For more details, please consult the Official Gazette no. 582, no. 597 and 608, published on June 21, 2024, June 27, 2024, respectively June 28, 2024.

The EY Team is available for further details on the above.