Issuing an SRL tax invoice in 2026: Thursday 15 October deadline, art. 319, and the 21% or 11% rate

On Thursday 8 October 2026, an SRL that supplied goods or services in September still has until Thursday 15 October 2026 to issue the invoice. From today, that is 7 calendar days. Article 319 paragraphs (15) and (16) of Law no. 227/2015, the Fiscal Code, put the same day — the 15th of the following month — on an intra-Community supply, on other transactions, and on an advance that has been collected, if the invoice has not already been issued. This is not transmission into RO e-Factura. The e-Factura guide explains the 5 working days from the issue date and the fines for a missing XML. It is not VAT registration either: the VAT guide stays on the RON 395,000 ceiling, Form 010 or 700, and the Form 300 return. This page is about writing the document.

The five searches this URL covers, and which the existing articles do not take as their subject: (1) the issue deadline, Thursday 15 October 2026, article 319 paragraphs (15) and (16), (2) the mandatory elements of a 2026 tax invoice, including VAT in RON and the absence of a stamp, (3) the no-VAT invoice for a person outside the VAT register, with the article 310 mention, (4) the EUR 100 simplified invoice as against a fiscal receipt and a proforma, (5) self-billing and the advance invoice, also by the 15th. Figures checked on 8 October 2026 against articles 281, 290, 291, 310 and 319 of the Fiscal Code, Law no. 141/2025 and Law no. 161/2026, the Ministry of Finance notice of 21 September 2026, GEO no. 120/2021 as amended by GEO no. 138/2024, and the BNR rate communicated on Wednesday 7 October 2026: EUR 1 = RON 5.3501.

For intra-Community supplies of goods that are exempt under article 294 paragraph (2), the invoice is issued at the latest on the 15th day of the month following the month in which the chargeable event occurs (article 319 paragraph (15)). For other transactions, paragraph (16) sets the same deadline: the 15th day of the month following the chargeable event, unless the invoice has already been issued. The same sentence covers an advance: the invoice for the amount collected is issued by the 15th day of the month following collection, if it does not already exist. For transactions in September 2026, that day is Thursday 15 October 2026. It is not a Sunday and it does not move. 25 October 2026 is a Sunday, so the VAT return and Form 390 for September move to Monday 26 October. The invoice does not wait for that day.

Example as at 8 October 2026. A service performed on Sunday 20 September 2026 has its chargeable event in September. The invoice may be issued at any time until the end of Thursday 15 October. If you issue it on Monday 5 October, the e-Factura transmission clock — 5 working days from issue, not counting the issue date, but no later than 5 working days from the paragraph (16) deadline, the rule written into GEO no. 120/2021 by GEO no. 89/2025 — ends on Monday 12 October (the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 12th). The cap counted from 15 October falls only on Thursday 22 October (the 16th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd), so the date that binds is the earlier one: 12 October. If you wait and issue on Thursday 15 October itself, the two clocks coincide and transmission runs until Thursday 22 October 2026. There is no national public holiday between 16 and 22 October; only Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 drop out of the count. The XML fine bands sit in the e-Factura guide, not here.

You may gather several supplies or services to the same customer on one summary invoice, if the chargeable event or the advance falls in a single calendar month and the documents issued on supply, performance or collection are attached (article 319 paragraph (17)). September's bundle is still issued by Thursday 15 October. Another exception, easy to mix up with the small-enterprise scheme: paragraph (7) takes supplies that are exempt without a right of deduction under article 292 paragraphs (1) and (2) out of the invoice duty. The special exemption for small enterprises, article 310, is not article 292. An SRL under RON 395,000 still issues an invoice to another SRL. A missing supporting document is not the e-Factura transmission fine. Accounting Law no. 82/1991, article 41 point 2 letter (c), sanctions failure to draw up and use supporting documents for the transactions carried out. Article 42 paragraph (1) letter (c), in the text given by GEO no. 115/2023 (Official Gazette no. 1139 of 15 December 2023), sets the fine between RON 2,000 and RON 20,000.

Article 319 paragraph (1) treats as an invoice the document or message, on paper or electronic, that meets the conditions of the article. Paragraph (20) lists the mandatory information. On an ordinary SRL invoice to a customer in Romania you do not skip: the sequential number, based on one or more series, which identifies the invoice uniquely (letter (a)); the date of issue (letter (b)); the date of supply, performance or collection of an advance, where that date is before issue (letter (c)); the name, address and VAT code or, as the case may be, tax identification code of the supplier (letter (d)); the customer's name, address and code, where the customer is a taxable person or a non-taxable legal person (letter (f)); the description and quantity of the goods or the description of the services (letter (h)); the taxable amount for each rate, exemption or non-taxable transaction, the unit price exclusive of tax, and reductions that are not already in the price (letter (i)). The series is not reused. An invoice that repeats a number already issued does not identify the transaction.

Letter (j) requires the tax rate and the amount of tax collected, expressed in RON. If the invoice is in euro or another currency, paragraph (23) allows the amounts in the currency you choose only on condition that the VAT collected or to be adjusted is in RON, converted at the article 290 rate. The methodological norms to article 290 paragraph (2) say that the latest rate communicated by the BNR is the rate of the previous day, valid for operations on the following day. For a transaction whose VAT becomes chargeable on Thursday 8 October 2026, the rate is the one communicated on Wednesday 7 October 2026: EUR 1 = RON 5.3501. A base of EUR 1,000 at 21% is EUR 210 of VAT, that is 210 × 5.3501 = RON 1,123.521, rounded to two decimals in RON on the invoice: RON 1,123.52. Do not leave the VAT in euro only. Paragraph (29) closes an old question: the signature and the stamp are not mandatory elements of the invoice.

The conditional mentions sit on the same list and are written only when they apply. Letter (k): 'autofactură' (self-billed invoice), where the customer issues the invoice in the supplier's name and on the supplier's behalf. Letter (l): a reference to the exemption provision, or another mention showing that the supply is exempt. Letter (m): 'taxare inversă' (reverse charge), where the customer is the person liable to pay. Letter (p): 'TVA la încasare' (cash-accounting VAT), where chargeability is on collection. Letter (r): a reference to the earlier invoice, where several documents exist for the same transaction. A services SRL that is not in the cash-accounting scheme and does not apply the reverse charge does not invent these phrases. You leave them off. Once issued, the invoice feeds the records that the prefilled return P300 compares, if you are VAT-registered, and Form 394, whose deadline for September is Friday 30 October 2026. A wrong document here shows up there.

If you apply the special exemption scheme for small enterprises, article 310 of the Fiscal Code, you are not VAT-registered. The ceiling, from 1 September 2025, is RON 395,000 of turnover, and registration is requested at the latest on the date the ceiling is exceeded, starting with the transaction that exceeds it. The VAT guide explains the ceiling and the form. The rule for what you write on the invoice is different: you are not allowed to mention the tax. The ANAF presentation of Government Ordinance no. 22/2025 says expressly that a person in the special scheme does not enter VAT on the invoice or on any other document, and does not deduct the tax on purchases. Article 319 paragraph (20) letter (l) does require a reference to the exemption provision. The wording that covers the letter is 'scutit fără drept de deducere conform art. 310 din Codul fiscal' (exempt without a right of deduction under article 310 of the Fiscal Code). A bare line 'not a VAT payer', with no article, is weaker than the text the letter asks for. The code in letter (d) is the CUI, not a code with the RO prefix: the RO prefix is the VAT registration code under article 316.

If you are already registered under article 316, the invoice carries a rate, not the article 310 mention. On 8 October 2026 the rates to print are 21% and 11%. Law no. 141/2025 raised the standard rate from 19% to 21% from 1 August 2025 and replaced the reduced rates of 5% and 9% with a single reduced rate of 11%, in article 291 paragraph (2). That includes, among other things, medicines for human use (veterinary medicines stay at 21%), food with the exceptions for alcoholic drinks, CN code 2202 and foods with added sugar above the threshold, books and textbooks, hotel accommodation, and restaurant or catering services without alcohol and without CN 2202. A consulting invoice issued on Thursday 8 October 2026 carries 21%. A lunch without a CN 2202 drink carries 11%. Do not copy the pair 9% and 5% onto an October 2026 invoice: the VAT-registration guide on this site is about the ceiling and Form 300, and its July sentence that still names those reduced rates is not the rate you print today.

The only 9% rate that survived after 1 August 2025 was the transitional rate for a single dwelling, under the conditions in Law no. 141/2025, extended by Law no. 161/2026. The Ministry of Finance notice of 21 September 2026 says the delivery deadline is 30 September 2026 inclusive: useful floor area of at most 120 square metres, value of at most RON 600,000 exclusive of VAT, a preliminary contract by 1 August 2025 and, for deeds dated 3–31 July 2025, a 20% advance paid by 31 July 2025. Wednesday 30 September 2026 has passed. Article 291 paragraphs (4) to (6) tie the rate to the date of the chargeable event, and article 281 paragraphs (1) and (6) put the chargeable event for a supply of goods, including immovable property, on the date the right to dispose of the goods as owner passes or, where handover precedes the transfer of ownership in instalment contracts other than leasing, on the date of handover. A dwelling supplied on Thursday 8 October 2026 no longer meets the date condition in Law no. 161/2026. You do not print 9% on the supply invoice. The 11% rate in article 291 paragraph (2) letter (l), for care homes, children's homes and the recovery centres listed there, with the buyer's notarised declaration, is a different provision and does not revive the 9% relief.

Article 319 paragraph (12) letter (a) allows a simplified invoice when the amount, including VAT, is not more than EUR 100. The rate is the one in article 290. For a transaction whose VAT becomes chargeable on Thursday 8 October 2026, EUR 100 × RON 5.3501 = RON 535.01 including VAT. At RON 535.01 you are still on the line. At RON 535.02 you have passed EUR 100 and paragraph (12) no longer applies. The minimum contents, paragraph (21), are: the date of issue, identification of the supplier, identification of the type of goods or services, the amount of tax collected or the data from which it is calculated and, where the document only amends an earlier invoice, a reference to the original invoice. Paragraph (13) does not, by itself, raise the ceiling to EUR 400: it authorises an order of the finance minister, after the VAT Committee has been consulted. Unless you are relying on such an order, the ceiling you apply from the code is EUR 100. Paragraph (14) closes the shortcut for distance sales under paragraph (6) letter (b) and for intra-Community supplies under paragraph (6) letter (c), however small the amount.

A fiscal receipt is not, by itself, the invoice. Article 319 paragraph (10) letter (a) relieves you of the duty to issue an invoice for supplies through retail shops and for services to the public, where GEO no. 28/1999 requires a fiscal receipt, except where the customer asks for the invoice. The cash-register guide is about the device, the NUI and the QR code, not about this article. A receipt that meets the simplified-invoice conditions in article 319 paragraphs (12), (13) and (21) is, however, the exception from transmission into RO e-Factura. The text in force from 1 January 2025, GEO no. 138/2024, places it both in B2B (article 10 paragraph (1) of GEO no. 120/2021) and in B2C (article 10^1 paragraph (2)). The exception is the receipt, not every document under EUR 100. A simplified invoice issued from invoicing software, even for RON 400, is not a fiscal receipt and does not fall into this exception: it is transmitted in e-Factura, within the 5 working days in the dedicated guide.

A proforma is not defined by article 319. It is an offer or a request for payment, not the document that records the supply or the service. It does not start the Thursday 15 October deadline and it does not stand in for the invoice in the accounts. After the customer pays the proforma, the collection is an advance or the price, and the tax invoice is issued under paragraph (16), with the collection date where that date is before issue. Sent on its own by email, a proforma is not the XML in the SPV either. A new SRL that 'invoices' only from a proforma template downloaded in the first month does not have the article 319 document and stays in the RON 2,000–20,000 fine band of Law no. 82/1991 for the missing supporting document, separate from the transmission fine.

An advance collected in connection with a supply or a service is invoiced (article 319 paragraph (6) letter (d)). If the money came in during September 2026 and you have not already issued the invoice, paragraph (16) still takes you to Thursday 15 October 2026. On the invoice, the base is the advance, not the whole contract, and letter (c) requires the collection date when it is before issue. When the transaction is closed, the final invoice refers to the advance, letter (r). The rate is the one on the date of the chargeable event of the supply or service, article 291 paragraphs (4) to (6), not the rate you hoped for in a preliminary contract. That is why an advance invoiced before 30 September 2026 for a dwelling that is handed over only in October does not keep, on the supply, the transitional 9% rate: the date condition in Law no. 161/2026 is no longer met. The adjustment is made on the closing invoice or on the correction document, not by a note on the proforma.

'Autofactură' is not a single document. The first case is commercial: the customer issues the invoice in the supplier's name and on the supplier's behalf, under the conditions in the norms (article 319 paragraph (18)), and writes the mention 'autofactură' (paragraph (20) letter (k)). The second is internal: a person registered under article 316 self-bills, within the paragraph (16) deadline, each supply of goods or service to itself (paragraph (8)). For a September transaction, the deadline is again Thursday 15 October. The third is paragraph (9): the self-billed invoice for a transfer of own goods to another member state, under article 270 paragraph (10), and for the transaction treated as an intra-Community acquisition. Here the deadline is paragraph (15), the same Thursday 15 October, and the transaction also goes on Form 390, which for September is filed on Monday 26 October, not on the invoice date.

The fourth case is a correction. Paragraph (3): if the taxable amount is adjusted under article 287 letters (a) to (c) and (e) and the supplier does not issue the correction invoice in article 330 paragraph (2), the customer issues a self-billed invoice to adjust deductible tax, at the latest on the 15th day of the month following the event. A refusal, a later discount or a cancellation in September, not covered by the supplier's invoice, is not solved by deleting the row from the trial balance. Paragraph (2) says that any document which amends, and which refers without ambiguity to, the original invoice has the status of an invoice. That document too, if you issue it as supplier, is transmitted in e-Factura, outside the fiscal-receipt exception above. P300 and Form 394 see the correction only if the document exists. The word 'cancelled' on a PDF, with no credit invoice, is not paragraph (2).

For September 2026 transactions, go through the steps before the end of Thursday 15 October 2026. Sending the XML is the next step and sits in the e-Factura guide, not in place of issuing the invoice.

Tavoris prepares the SRL incorporation dossier for the ONRC, from the identity document and the contract for the registered office. It does not issue invoices, it does not number a series, it does not choose between 21% and 11%, it does not write the article 310 mention and it does not upload XML to RO e-Factura. The Thursday 15 October 2026 deadline stays with you and your accountant, after the certificate.

To transmit the invoice you issue, you need an active Private Virtual Space. The steps after the certificate — SPV, the bank account, the tax vector — are in the post-incorporation checklist. Activating the SPV does not replace article 319 and does not move 15 October.

Informational guide as at Thursday 8 October 2026. Texts used: Law no. 227/2015 (articles 281, 290, 291, 310, 319), Law no. 141/2025, Law no. 161/2026, the Ministry of Finance notice of 21 September 2026, GEO no. 120/2021 (articles 10 and 10^1, as amended by GEO no. 138/2024), GEO no. 89/2025, Accounting Law no. 82/1991 (article 41 point 2 letter (c) and article 42 paragraph (1) letter (c), GEO no. 115/2023 text) and GEO no. 28/1999. The BNR rate communicated on Wednesday 7 October 2026, EUR 1 = RON 5.3501, is the rate valid for transactions on Thursday 8 October; when the BNR next publishes, the RON 535.01 ceiling is recalculated. Check anaf.ro, onrc.ro and the legislation in force. This is not tax, accounting or legal advice.