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Romania – Transfer Pricing (2025)

Romania’s transfer pricing framework is founded on the arm’s length principle as embedded in domestic tax law and explicitly incorporates OECD guidance for interpretation. Transactions between related parties must respect the Arm’s Length Principle under Tax Act, Section 11, para 4 (art 11 alin 4 cod fiscal), and the procedural rules on TP documentation and compliance are detailed in Ord 442/2016. These provisions apply to both domestic and cross‑border transactions, and Romanian law makes direct reference to the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines (TPG) for substantive and interpretative matters.

Arm’s length principle and the role of the OECD Guidelines

Domestic legislation explicitly refers to the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines as the interpretative framework for applying the arm’s length principle. Tax Act, Section 11, para 4 (art 11 alin 4 Fiscal Code) establishes this linkage, meaning that methods, comparability analysis, range use and statistical measures, and many other aspects of transfer pricing practice in Romania should be interpreted in line with the OECD TPG.

The domestic definition of affiliated persons appears in Tax Act, Section 7/26 (art 7 pct 26 Fiscal Code). Affiliation is set out, inter alia, as spouse or relatives up to the third degree between individuals; ownership, directly or indirectly (including holdings of affiliated persons), of at least 25% by value or number of participation titles or voting rights, or effective control by a natural person in a legal entity; similarly, a legal person is affiliated with another legal person where it owns directly or indirectly at least 25% of participation titles or voting rights, or effectively controls the other; and when a third legal person owns directly or indirectly (including holdings of affiliated persons) at least 25% of both legal persons or effectively controls both. These thresholds and relationships determine the scope of related‑party obligations.

Methods and criteria for application

Romanian law provides for the use of the five traditional OECD methods and also contemplates “any other method” described by the OECD TPG. The Tax Act lists CUP, Resale Price, Cost Plus, TNMM and Profit Split as applicable methods (Tax Act, Section 11, para 4(art 11 alin 4 Fiscal Code)). Regarding selection criteria, Romania follows the OECD principle of selecting the most appropriate method rather than imposing a strict hierarchy (Tax Act, Section 11, para 4(art 11 alin 4 Fiscal Code) and point 4 of procedural norms). Therefore, the applicable method should be the one best suited to the factual circumstances, functions performed, assets used and risks assumed by the tested party.

Comparability analysis and use of ranges

Romania largely follows Chapter III of the OECD TPG in relation to comparability analysis (Tax Act, Section 11, para 4 (art 11 alin 4 Fiscal Code) point 5 of procedural norms). Domestic law sets a preference order for comparables, favouring national comparables first and, subsequently, comparables from the EU, pan‑European and international markets (Art 8, Ord 442/2016); this ordering is applied in the selection of comparables for the tested party. Secret comparables cannot be used for transfer pricing assessments but may be used for risk assessment purposes. Romanian law allows the use of arm’s length ranges and statistical measures (such as the interquartile range and median) (Art 8, Ord 442/2016), and comparability adjustments are required where differences in functions, assets, risks or contract terms would materially affect comparability, consistent with OECD guidance.

Intangibles and commodity transactions

Domestic legislation does not set separate rules that depart from the OECD TPG for commodities or intangibles; instead, Romania follows the OECD TPG for these matters. The Tax Act references the OECD approach on intangibles (Tax Act, Section 11, para 4 (art 11 alin 4 Fiscal Code) point 5(12) of procedural norms) and the provision is a condensed restatement of the OECD rules rather than a divergent domestic regime. There are no specific domestic rules for hard‑to‑value intangibles (HTVI) in the Romanian profile; thus, No se proporciona guía doméstica específica en el perfil and practitioners should consult the OECD TPG for guidance on HTVI.

Intra‑group services and financial transactions

Romania provides guidance for intra‑group services consistent with the OECD TPG (Tax Act, Section 11, para 4 (art 11 alin 4 Fiscal Code) point 5(9, 10, 13)), but it does not have a simplified regime for low value‑adding intra‑group services; in that respect No se proporciona guía doméstica específica en el perfil and the OECD TPG remains the primary reference. For financial transactions, Romanian law follows the OECD TPG (Tax Act, Section 11, para 4(art 11 alin 4 Fiscal Code) point 5(11)) and also includes domestic measures on interest deductibility in line with European Directive 2016/1.164/UE (Tax Act, Section 40(1)-40(9), para 4(art 40(1)- 40(9)alin 4 cod fiscal)), implemented as part of BEPS Action 4 responses.

Cost contribution arrangements

Romania does not have specific domestic rules addressing Cost Contribution Agreements (CCAs); the matter is handled in practice by reference to the OECD TPG. Accordingly, No se proporciona guía doméstica específica en el perfil regarding CCAs.

Documentation and reporting requirements

Romanian legislation requires taxpayers to prepare transfer pricing documentation, including a Master file, Local file and Country‑by‑Country report consistent with Annexes I‑III to Chapter V of the OECD TPG (Art 2-4, Ord 442/2016). All documentation must be translated into Romanian. For large taxpayers, the master file and local file must be prepared on an annual basis and no later than 25 March of the following fiscal year; upon request by tax auditors these files must be submitted within 10 calendar days. Medium and small taxpayers must prepare and submit master and local files within 30–60 days from the tax audit request, with a possible extension of an additional 30 days (Art 4, Ord 442/2016; Ord 3609/2016; Ord 3610/2016). The list of large taxpayers is published on the NAFA website. The profile does not specify the domestic thresholds for Country‑by‑Country reporting (for example, consolidated group revenue thresholds); therefore No se proporciona guía doméstica específica en el perfil and taxpayers should consult the OECD TPG and international filing standards for CbCR thresholds.

Penalties and compliance incentives

Specific penalties apply for failure to provide or for incomplete transfer pricing documentation. Under Art 336 of the Fiscal Procedure Code, penalties range from RON 2 000 to RON 3 500 for small and medium taxpayers and from RON 12 000 to RON 14 000 for large taxpayers (art 336 of Fiscal Procedural Code). These fines are applied for non‑compliance with documentation obligations as described in the procedural norms.

Advance Pricing Agreements, MAP and dispute avoidance

Romania provides for the issuance of APAs and participates in Mutual Agreement Procedures. Unilateral, bilateral and multilateral APAs can be issued; bilateral and multilateral APAs are available only for transactions with taxpayers resident in treaty partner jurisdictions, under the MAP provisions. The legislative basis for APAs is Law no. 207/2015 regarding the Code of Fiscal Procedure (art. 52) and the detailed procedural rules are set out in the Order of the President of the Romanian Tax Administration no. 3735/2015 regarding the approval of issuing or modifying an APA and the content of APA applications. The current domestic framework does not allow roll‑back of APAs already issued. For MAPs, art.282 - Mutual agreement procedure – Law No 207/2015 applies. The profile does not provide specific timelines or average processing times for APAs or MAPs; No se proporciona guía doméstica específica en el perfil with respect to administrative timing, thus practitioners should refer to the OECD TPG and Romanian tax administration guidance for expected procedural timeframes.

Safe harbours and other simplifications

The profile identifies domestic measures relating to interest deductibility derived from implementation of European Directive 2016/1.164/UE and Tax Act, Section 40(1)-40(9), para 4(art 40(1)- 40(9)alin 4 cod fiscal). These provisions function as a type of safe harbour for interest limitation consistent with BEPS Action 4. No other general simplification measures are noted in the profile; where the profile lacks specific domestic simplification rules, No se proporciona guía doméstica específica en el perfil and the OECD TPG should be consulted.

Year‑end adjustments, secondary adjustments and permanent establishments

Although there is no explicit statutory obligation to perform year‑end adjustments, Romanian practice recognises that taxpayers may make year‑end adjustments to ensure that profits from related‑party transactions reflect arm’s length conditions; such adjustments should be reflected in financial statements and accounting records in accordance with Section 2.4, Order No. 1802 of December 29, 2014 (OMFP 1802/2014). The profile indicates that Romania does not apply secondary adjustments in its transfer pricing enforcement (response: No). Regarding attribution of profits to permanent establishments, Romania follows the Authorised OECD Approaches (AOA) in all tax treaties and domestic provisions stipulate that profits attributable to a PE are those that the PE might be expected to make as a separate and independent enterprise under similar conditions, taking into account functions performed, assets used and risks assumed (Chapter III, art 36 and 37 of Fiscal code, and art 8 o Fiscal Code).

Other considerations and conclusion

Overall, Romania’s transfer pricing regime is closely aligned with the OECD Guidelines: the domestic law explicitly references and applies TPG standards, allows the five OECD methods plus other methods described in the TPG, mandates Master file, Local file and CbC reporting with Romanian translation and sets materiality thresholds for documentation exemptions. It includes specific domestic measures on interest deductibility linked to European Directive 2016/1.164/UE, allows APA and MAP mechanisms (without roll‑back), but the country profile does not provide exhaustive procedural timing or certain international thresholds (for example, explicit CbC filing thresholds or APA/MAP processing times). Where the profile lacks a domestic rule or timing detail, No se proporciona guía doméstica específica en el perfil; in such instances practitioners should consult the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for application guidance and the Romanian tax administration for procedural instructions.

References

For more information and access to OECD country transfer pricing profiles: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/transfer-pricing/transfer-pricing-country-profiles.html

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