SRL OSS VAT and Form 398 in 2026: EUR 10,000 ceiling, Saturday 31 October deadline that does not move

On Monday 5 October 2026, an SRL that sells online to private customers in other European Union member states still has to file Form 398 for the third quarter (1 July–30 September). The deadline is Saturday 31 October 2026. From today until then there are 26 calendar days. Article 315(6^1) of Law no. 227/2015, inserted by Law no. 33/2024, says the end of the month after the quarter is the last calendar day, even if that day is not a working day. The Saturday does not move to Monday 2 November. This is not Form 390 VIES, which has a different EUR 10,000 ceiling, for acquisitions, equal to RON 34,000. It is not the VAT return either: the VAT guide stays on the RON 395,000 ceiling, the 21% rate and Form 300. And it is not the second instalment of construction tax, where the pillar-tax guide shows that the Saturday of 31 October does move, for that tax, to Monday 2 November.

The five searches this URL covers, and which the existing articles do not take as their subject: (1) the OSS scheme for an SRL in 2026 and the ceiling of EUR 10,000, equal to RON 46,337, (2) Form 398, with the Saturday 31 October 2026 deadline that is not extended, (3) the difference between OSS and IOSS, the EUR 150 cap and the temporary customs duty of EUR 3 per item, (4) a nil Form 398, even if you sold nothing under the scheme in the quarter, (5) paying the VAT in euro and the ECB rate of Wednesday 30 September 2026. Figures checked on 5 October 2026 against articles 278^1, 314, 315 and 315^2 of the Fiscal Code, GEO no. 59/2021, Law no. 33/2024, ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021 and the European Central Bank reference rate of 30 September 2026.

The ceiling that keeps you on Romanian VAT, or takes you off it, is EUR 10,000 excluding VAT, equal to RON 46,337, and it is tested twice: in the current calendar year and in the previous year (article 278^1(1)(c) of the Fiscal Code). The basket, added up across all other member states and not country by country, contains intra-Community distance sales of goods to non-taxable persons and TBE services (telecommunications, broadcasting, television and electronically supplied services) to non-taxable persons established in another member state. A consultancy service performed in person, a rent, or a domestic supply inside Romania does not enter those EUR 10,000. The figure of RON 46,337 is not recalculated at the October 2026 rate. Article 278^1(5), inserted by GEO no. 59/2021, fixes it at the ECB rate on the date Directive (EU) 2017/2455 was adopted, 5 December 2017. ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021, point 36(1), still prints 'EUR 10,000 (RON 46,337)'. As of 5 October 2026 no act repealing that paragraph is published; one consolidation page displayed only paragraphs (1) to (4). Until a repeal is published in the Official Gazette, the leu ceiling stays at RON 46,337.

Below the ceiling, in both years, and if you are established in a single member state, the place of the distance sale or of the TBE service stays in Romania (article 278^1(1)). If you are registered under article 316, you charge the Romanian standard rate of 21%, in force since 1 August 2025, and you put it on Form 300, not on Form 398. If you are still in the small-enterprise exemption, under the RON 395,000 ceiling in the VAT guide, you do not collect Romanian VAT on these sales, and you are not in OSS either. Above the ceiling, article 278^1(2) moves the place to the customer from the invoice that crosses the line, not from 1 January and not from the next quarter. You may opt for taxation at destination before you cross: the option lasts at least two calendar years (paragraph (3)) and is exercised on Form 085, as named in ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021. Stock placed in a warehouse in another member state breaks the condition in paragraph (1)(a) — a single member state of establishment — and the EUR 10,000 ceiling does not repair it.

Example on 5 October 2026. A home-goods SRL has dispatched, in 2026, goods with a base of RON 40,000 excluding VAT to private persons in Germany and France, and in 2025 it stayed under RON 46,337. The ceiling is not crossed: if the firm is VAT registered, the rate is 21% and the line sits on Form 300. The next invoice, of RON 7,000, takes the total to RON 47,000. From that invoice, the VAT is the rate of the state where the transport ends, not 21%. To declare it through ANAF, in one place, you enter the Union scheme in article 315, rather than a separate registration in each country. Article 315(4) says you use the number allocated under article 316 or article 317. ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021, point 10(2) and (3), conditions Union-scheme enrolment on VAT being on the fiscal vector. The special code for intra-Community acquisitions, explained in the Form 390 guide at the RON 34,000 ceiling, is not the same basket and does not, on its own, replace the vector required by point 10. That other EUR 10,000 ceiling, the one for purchases of goods, stays in that guide. The counter here is your sales to consumers in the EU.

For the Union scheme, article 315(6) requires the special VAT return by the end of the month after each calendar quarter, on the model in Annex III to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/194, whether or not you had supplies under the scheme. For 1 July–30 September 2026, the following month ends on Saturday 31 October 2026. Paragraph (6^1), added by Law no. 33/2024, closes the argument: the last calendar day remains the deadline even if it is not a working day. 1 November 2026 is a Sunday, and Monday 2 November is the first working day, but Form 398 does not wait for that day. The Ialomița county finance administration already treated Saturday 28 February 2026 the same way, in a notice published on anaf.ro: it named that Saturday as the filing deadline for Form 398 and did not move it to Monday.

Do not copy the weekend rule from the other returns in the same month. Form 300 for September is due on the 25th, and 25 October 2026 is a Sunday, so the return moves to Monday 26 October. Form 394 for the same month stays on Friday 30 October, a working day. SAF-T Form 406, in its own guide, is due on the last calendar day of the following month, moved to the next working day if that day falls on a weekend: for the third quarter, Monday 2 November. The construction-tax instalment also moves to 2 November, under article 181(2) of the Civil Procedure Code. Form 398 has the special sentence in paragraph (6^1), narrower and later, which stops the extension. Three calendars on the same Saturday. The next Union-scheme Form 398, for the fourth quarter, falls on Sunday 31 January 2027 and, under the same paragraph, stays on Sunday.

Filing is electronic, with a qualified certificate registered at ANAF, through the portal provided for the special schemes (ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021, points 8, 9 and 51). There is no paper form, and you do not attach it to Form 300. The Union scheme generally starts on the first day of the calendar quarter after a correctly completed commencement declaration (point 17(1)). The exception: if the first supply that would fall under the scheme is before that day, the scheme starts on the date of that supply, provided you file the commencement declaration by the 10th of the following month (point 17(2)). For a first sale in September 2026, the 10th is Saturday 10 October 2026. Paragraph (6^1) does not speak about this 10th; it speaks only about the end of the month in which the return is filed. The general rule on time limits, article 75 of the Fiscal Procedure Code read with article 181(2) of the Civil Procedure Code, moves a deadline that falls on a non-working day to the next working day. That day is Monday 12 October 2026. On 5 October 2026 the two texts do not say the same thing about the 10th. If the portal shows the 10th or the 12th, follow the date in the portal. A firm already enrolled before 1 July still declares the third quarter on Saturday 31 October, without enrolling again.

The Union scheme (article 315) is the counter for an SRL established in Romania: intra-Community distance sales of goods, domestic supplies facilitated by an electronic interface under article 270(16), and services to a non-taxable person when you are not established in the member state of consumption. The period is the quarter. The non-Union scheme (article 314) is for a person with neither a seat nor a fixed establishment in the Union who supplies services to non-taxable persons in the EU; it is also quarterly, and article 314(7^1), also from Law no. 33/2024, likewise freezes the end of the month on a non-working day. A Romanian SRL with its seat in Romania does not use the non-Union scheme for its ordinary sales. It uses the Union scheme.

IOSS, article 315^2, is a different scheme: distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries, other than excise goods, in consignments with an intrinsic value of at most EUR 150. Intrinsic value is the price of the goods, not transport shown separately on the invoice. The tax period is the month, not the quarter. The return is still Form 398, by the end of the following month, and article 315^2(18^1) says here too that the end of the month is the last calendar day, even if it is not a working day. For imports in September 2026, the deadline is also Saturday 31 October 2026. A parcel with an intrinsic value of EUR 160 is outside IOSS. From 1 July 2026, Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 places a temporary customs duty of EUR 3 per item on B2C consignments of at most EUR 150, until 1 July 2028. The EUR 3 is a customs duty, not VAT. IOSS still collects consumption-state VAT at the sale; the import-VAT exemption, when the IOSS number is declared to customs, has not been replaced by those EUR 3.

The three schemes do not share one supply. A dispatch from the Romanian warehouse to a consumer in Poland sits on the Union scheme, quarterly. A parcel sent from outside the Union, under EUR 150, sits on IOSS, monthly. A sale to a private person in Romania, of goods that never leave the country, sits on neither: it sits on Form 300, if you are VAT registered, and in e-Factura when the invoice falls under the RO e-Factura system, with the five-working-day clock. Form 398 does not stop that XML. Point 16(5) of ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021 says it directly: being in a special scheme does not cancel the VAT returns and payments that come from registration under article 316.

Once you are enrolled, you file Form 398 for every period, including when the quarter has no supply under the scheme (article 315(6); ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021, point 51). Nil means a return that was sent, with zero amounts, not a month you skipped. Form 390 works the other way: months with no in-scope transactions are not filed. Form 394 is filed even at nil, but it is the national statement of supplies and purchases, not VAT due in Germany or France. Three forms, three nil rules. If in the third quarter you had a single order to an EU consumer and then silence, Form 398 still goes out on Saturday 31 October.

A correction is not a separate form on which you write a zero base over the old return. Article 315(11) puts the changes into a later return, within three years of the date the original return was due. The later return identifies the member state of consumption, the period and the VAT difference, which may be negative. For the third quarter of 2026, the three-year window is measured from 31 October 2026, not from 2 November. An omission found in November goes into the fourth-quarter Form 398, with a reference to the wrong period, not into a corrective Form 300.

Repeated non-compliance is not the RON 1,000–5,000 fine from Form 390. ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021, point 37, defines a repeated breach as: reminders to file for the last three periods and the return not filed within 10 days of each reminder; or reminders to pay for the last three periods and the amount not paid within 10 days, unless the amount due for each period is under EUR 100; or records not made available electronically within one month of a further reminder. Exclusion follows (article 315(5)(d)). For a repeated breach, the quarantine is two years after the return period in which you were excluded, and it covers every special scheme, in every member state (points 41 and 45). A voluntary exit from the Union scheme is notified at least 15 days before the end of the quarter preceding the one in which you want to leave, and it takes effect on the first day of the following quarter (point 26(3)). After exclusion, VAT on supplies after the effective date is settled directly with the tax authority of the member state of consumption (point 50). Interest on VAT paid late to that state is calculated by that state, not at the Romanian rate of 0.02% a day in article 174 of the Fiscal Procedure Code.

Article 315(13) puts payment on the same day as the return: the total tax due in the member states of consumption, in euro, into a special account indicated by the tax authority, with a reference to the matching return. For the third quarter, that day is Saturday 31 October 2026. The return itself is drawn up in euro (paragraph (12)). Do not print an IBAN from a 2021 ANAF PDF: copy the account from the current OSS payment page on anaf.ro on the day you transfer. The reference described in ANAF's payment note, for the Union and non-Union schemes, has the shape RO, then the tax id, then the quarter and the year. Without the reference, the payment does not match the return. An order sent on Monday 2 November is after the deadline in paragraph (6^1), even if your bank does not work on Saturday: you place the order on Friday 30 October, while the legal due date remains Saturday.

If the customer paid in euro, you enter euro. Example: a base of EUR 2,000, goods dispatched from Romania to a private person in Germany, the firm already in the Union scheme. The German standard rate in 2026 is 19%. VAT to declare and pay: EUR 380. That is not 21% of EUR 2,000, which would be EUR 420, and it is not a line of Romanian output VAT on Form 300. The prefilled return P300 compares the Romanian return, not Form 398. Domestic supplies in the same quarter stay on Form 300. If the total across all member states of consumption in the quarter is under EUR 100, point 37(b) takes that period out of the 'repeated non-payment' limb; the non-filing limb has no such exception. A missing return, with EUR 35 behind it, is still a missing return.

If you are paid in lei, or in a currency other than euro, paragraph (12) requires the rate in force on the last day of the tax period. The rates are those published by the European Central Bank for that day or, if none are published that day, those of the next day. The last day of the third quarter is Wednesday 30 September 2026, and the ECB published a rate that day: EUR 1 = RON 5.2788 (the reference table republished by the Bank of Italy). The National Bank of Romania rate the same day was RON 5.2785. The Code names the ECB, not the National Bank. Example: an invoice of RON 1,000 excluding VAT, collected in lei, to a consumer in Germany, under the Union scheme. The euro base: 1,000 / 5.2788 = 189.43699..., rounded to two decimals EUR 189.44. VAT at 19% of 189.44 = 35.9936..., that is EUR 35.99. The portal software rounds; do not copy 35.99 into a payment order until you see the amount on the return you sent. The same invoice, had you been under the ceiling and VAT registered in Romania, would have put RON 210 of Romanian VAT on Form 300, not EUR 35.99 on Form 398. e-Factura keeps its five-working-day clock for invoices that fall into the system; the ECB rate does not replace it.

Work through the steps before Saturday 31 October 2026. The figures are those in force on Monday 5 October 2026.

Tavoris prepares the SRL incorporation dossier for the Trade Register, from the identity document and the registered-office contract. It does not register you for the Union scheme or for IOSS, it does not file Form 398, it does not pick the customer's member-state rate and it does not transfer euro into the special account by Saturday 31 October 2026.

After the certificate, the one-stop shop is yours, with your accountant. The post-incorporation checklist covers the SPV and the certificate you use to sign electronically; without it neither the commencement declaration nor Form 398 goes out. This article covers only the ceiling, the Saturday deadline and payment in euro.

Informational guide as of 5 October 2026. Law no. 227/2015 (article 270(16), article 275(2), article 278(5)(h), article 278^1, article 314, article 315, article 315^2), GEO no. 59/2021, Law no. 33/2024, ANAF Order no. 1,387/2021, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/194, Regulation (EU) 2026/382 and the ECB rate of 30 September 2026 may be updated. The tension between 10 October (a Saturday) and article 181(2) of the Civil Procedure Code is not resolved by paragraph (6^1), which concerns only the end of the return month. No act repealing article 278^1(5) is published, although an online consolidation displayed only paragraphs (1) to (4); point 36 of the order still uses RON 46,337. Check anaf.ro, the OSS portal and legislatie.just.ro, including the IBAN shown on the day you pay. This is not tax, accounting or legal advice.