Romania's tax authority has approved two orders updating transfer pricing documentation standards and advance pricing agreement procedures to align with OECD guidelines and reduce multinational tax disputes.
Romania’s Ministry of Finance and the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) announced, on 30 June 2026, that they have introduced revised transfer pricing regulations designed to bring greater clarity and consistency to how multinational companies structure intra-group transactions.
The ANAF has approved and submitted to the Official Gazette for publication two orders introducing procedures for implementing these rules in tax administration and control activities.
The framework, which had remained largely unchanged since 2016, modernises rules on both transfer pricing documentation and advance pricing agreements to reduce conflicting interpretations between taxpayers and tax authorities.
Through these two orders, the Ministry of Finance clarifies the applicable rules and aligns them with OECD standards, ensuring that tax analyses are conducted based on consistent, transparent, and predictable criteria. ANAF will apply this framework in its tax administration and control activities, with the aim of reducing tax disputes, ensuring equal treatment for taxpayers in comparable situations, and rigorously assessing whether intra-group transactions comply with the arm’s length principle.
Clearer documentation standards and raised thresholds
The first order reshapes transfer pricing file requirements by raising materiality thresholds—the revenue or transaction triggers that determine when companies must prepare documentation. This reduces compliance burden for smaller related-party dealings while focusing ANAF’s scrutiny on material transactions. Large taxpayers can now submit files electronically through ANAF’s Virtual Private Space, streamlining the submission process.
The key changes to transfer pricing documentation requirements are:
- Materiality thresholds revised: The framework raises materiality thresholds determining when companies must file transfer pricing documentation, varying by transaction type. This reduces compliance burden for smaller dealings while focusing ANAF scrutiny on material transactions.
- Electronic submission now mandatory for large taxpayers: Large taxpayers required to prepare annual files can now submit electronically through ANAF’s Virtual Private Space, replacing manual submission and streamlining compliance.
- OECD alignment clarified: Documentation now explicitly incorporates OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines with enhanced guidance on business restructurings, internal asset transfers, and permanent establishment arrangements. This ensures profit attribution reflects where economic value is genuinely created.
- Comparability analyses standardised: Benchmarking related-party prices against market rates now follows standardised methodology, specifying acceptable data sources, market selection, and analytical justification requirements. This minimises interpretive disputes between taxpayers and ANAF.
- Documentation requirements expanded: Taxpayers must present more detailed information supporting economic analysis in transfer pricing files, moving closer to international best practice and demanding clearer evidence of economic substance.
Greater certainty for multinational groups
The second order strengthens advance pricing agreements (APAs), pre-approval mechanisms allowing companies to confirm transfer pricing methods with ANAF before transactions occur. Enhanced provisions now clarify when agreements can apply retroactively—a “rollback” mechanism—when circumstances remain comparable to prior periods. This extension reduces exposure to retrospective tax assessments for historical years.
Key improvements to the APA process include:
- Retroactive application: Clarified conditions for extending APA effects to previous fiscal years through the rollback mechanism
- Bilateral and multilateral agreements: Explicit procedural guidance for cross-border APAs, reducing double-taxation risk.
- Documentation requirements: Clearer specification of documents and information taxpayers must submit.
- Dispute prevention: Reduced risk of tax disputes between ANAF and multinational enterprises through predictable treatment.
For companies with operations across borders, this represents meaningful protection against conflicting tax positions.
The amendments strengthen the transfer pricing framework by aligning it with OECD standards and enabling ANAF to apply clearer, more consistent rules in tax administration and control. The changes aim to improve predictability, ensure fair treatment for taxpayers, and support more efficient tax administration.
Earlier, Romania’s National Agency for Fiscal Administration has issued a draft order of the President regarding the thresholds of transactions, deadlines for preparation, content and conditions for requesting the transfer pricing file, and the procedure for adjusting/estimating transfer prices.
