Intrastat statistical declaration in 2023 – completion rules

In the Official Gazette (Part I) no.1265 of 29 December 2022 was published the INS Order no.1623/2022 approving the Rules for completing the Intrastat Statistical Declaration.

According to the document, the purpose of these rules is to support data providers in completing the Intrastat statistical declaration in a correct and efficient way.

Please note that the Intrastat statistical declaration is a mandatory declaration according to Law no. 22/2006, as amended, for trade in goods between Romania and other Member States of the European Union.

Intra-EU imports represent flows of goods from other EU Member States to the territory of Romania, and intra-EU exports represent flows of goods leaving the territory of Romania to other EU Member States (Union).

The obligation to provide Intrastat statistical data is incumbent on all economic operators who simultaneously fulfil the following conditions:

1. they are registered in Romania for value added tax purposes – i.e. they have a tax identification code;

2. they carry out intra-EU trade in goods;

3. the total annual value of intra-EU trade in goods exceeds the value threshold established annually by the National Institute of Statistics, separately for the two flows, respectively, the introduction and dispatch of goods.

The obligations in the Intrastat system are established by the National Institute of Statistics on the basis of the Intrastat statistical declarations of the previous year and the information from the VAT returns and the recapitulative declarations on intra-EU deliveries/purchases/provisions, VIES, provided by the Ministry of Finance, at the level of economic operator engaged in intra-EU trade in goods.

Intrastat value thresholds:

According to the INS Order 1493/2022, published in the Official Gazette no. 1.044 of 28 October 2022 and which will enter into force on 1 February 2023, the Intrastat value thresholds will increase.

More specifically, the National Institute of Statistics has set the Intrastat value thresholds at 1,000,000 lei for both dispatches of goods and arrivals of goods.

An economic operator whose annual value for intra-EU imports of goods is equal to or greater than 1.000.000 lei must declare for the introduction flow. An economic operator whose annual value for intra-EU exports of goods is equal to or more than 1.000.000 lei must declare for the dispatch flow.

We remember that the INTRASTAT value thresholds set for 2022 were:

for intra-EU imports: 900.000 lei

for intra-EU exports: 900.000 lei

Types of statistical returns according to the annual value of intra-EU trade in goods:

Remark: In cases where an economic operator is obliged to transmit Intrastat statistical declarations for both flows, it is possible that for one of the flows he transmits the standard declaration and for the other flow he transmits the extended declaration. In this case, it is allowed to transmit the extended declaration for both flows.

According to the implementing rules, the Intrastat statistical declaration must be transmitted by economic operators who have reached or exceeded the Intrastat value threshold in the year preceding the reference year or reach or exceed it in the reference year, separately for intra-EU imports and exports of goods. Thus, these economic operators become providers of Intrastat statistical information.

For the reference year, the Intrastat statistical information providers are:

 a) economic operators who were obliged to report in the Intrastat statistical system for the whole year preceding the reference year and who, throughout the year preceding the reference year, have achieved a level of intra-EU trade in goods above the Intrastat value thresholds established for the reference year, separately for each flow. They complete and transmit the Intrastat statistical declaration for the whole reference year;

1. b) economic operators who acquired the obligation to report for the Intrastat statistical system during the year preceding the reference year, by exceeding the Intrastat value thresholds established for the year preceding the reference year, separately for each flow. They complete and submit the Intrastat statistical declaration for the entire reference year;

2. c) economic operators who exceed the Intrastat value thresholds during the reference year, separately for each flow. Their reporting obligation for the Intrastat statistical system occurs in the month in which the cumulative value of intra-EU trade in goods from the beginning of the reference year exceeds the Intrastat value thresholds established for the reference year, separately for each of the two flows.

Specifically, the Intrastat value threshold for declaring the statistical value applies to those Intrastat statistical information providers who, in the year preceding the reference year or in the reference year, recorded annual values, separately for each flow, above the Intrastat value threshold set for the statistical value at RON 10,000,000 for intra-EU imports and RON 20,000,000 for intra-EU exports respectively.

Economic operators are obliged to submit data for the Intrastat statistical system for intra-EU imports and exports of goods on a monthly basis, always by the end of the reference year in which the Intrastat value threshold was exceeded and for the following calendar year. After a full calendar year in which the statistical information provider has not achieved a level of intra-EU trade in goods, expressed in cumulative values since the beginning of the calendar year, above the Intrastat value threshold set for intra-EU imports and/or exports, the obligation to report data for the Intrastat statistical system ceases and the Intrastat statistical declaration will no longer have to be transmitted from January of the following year. This will apply provided that the Intrastat value threshold is not exceeded again during the following year. The above rules will be applied again, separately for intra-EU import – arrivals – and intra-EU export – dispatches of goods.

Intrastat statistical data must be provided to the National Institute of Statistics on a monthly basis, within a maximum of 15 calendar days after the end of the reference period.

The statistical information provider may draw up and transmit the Intrastat statistical declaration himself or may call upon the services of another economic operator, called a third party declarant, to draw up and transmit the Intrastat statistical declaration.

If the statistical information provider uses the services of a third party declarant for the completion and transmission of the Intrastat statistical return, it is obliged to prove the existence of a contract between it and the third party declarant. A reporting third party may transmit data for an economic operator only after the National Statistical Institute has been notified in writing by the statistical information provider.

Termination of the relationship between a data provider and a reporting third party must be notified to the National Statistical Institute.

Types of operations declared in the Intrastat statistical system:

Statistics on intra-EU trade in goods cover all movements of goods between Member States of the European Union which increase or reduce a country’s stock of material resources. All goods arriving on the territory of Romania from other EU Member States or leaving the territory of Romania to other EU Member States must be declared in the Intrastat statistical declaration.

Basically, this means that the Intrastat Statistical Declaration must be drawn up for intra-EU imports and/or exports of goods in the following cases:

• intra-EU trade in goods involving transfer of ownership and intended for use, consumption, investment or resale;

• movements of goods from one EU Member State to Romania or movements of goods from Romania to another EU Member State without transfer of ownership. For example, transfer of stocks, movement of goods before and after processing, etc.;

• return of goods;

• specific movements of goods;

• financial leasing;

• operational leasing with a duration of more than 2 years.

Types of transactions not declared in the Intrastat statistical system:

• For the following cases the Intrastat statistical declaration does not have to be made:

• trade in services;

• goods in transit;

• temporary movement of goods;

• movements of goods for/after repair and/or maintenance;

• trade in goods with those territories of the Member States of the European Union which do not belong to the statistical territory of the Member States of the European Union;

• trade in goods within the framework of triangular trade, where the goods do not enter the national territory of Romania from other Member States of the European Union or are not dispatched from Romania to another Member State of the European Union.

How to complete and transmit Intrastat statistical declarations:

Intrastat statistical declarations are transmitted to the National Institute of Statistics only in electronic format, paper declarations are not accepted. For this purpose, the National Institute of Statistics provides Intrastat statistical information providers with the following electronic means of completing and transmitting Intrastat statistical declarations:

1. the Intrastat online application, available free of charge at intrastat.ro;

2. the Intrastat offline application, available free of charge on the website www.intrastat.ro.

The Intrastat offline application allows the creation of a file containing the Intrastat statistical declaration, which the statistical information provider transmits to the National Statistical Institute in one of the following ways:

• e-mail, at declaratie.intrastat@insse.ro;

• uploading the file to the Intrastat online application available at www.intrastat.ro;

• if the statistical information provider does not have access to the Internet to transmit the Intrastat statistical declaration according to point a) or b), he will copy the Intrastat declaration file – the file with the .xml or .enc extension on an external memory device – CD, DVD or other and will address the territorial directorate of statistics in whose area he is established, requesting the possibility to transmit by e-mail the file containing the Intrastat statistical declaration to the National Institute of Statistics or will transmit the declaration from any other computer with access to the Internet;

3. own software, existing or developed by the statistical information provider, for the creation of the file containing the Intrastat Statistical Declaration in a predefined format, presented in the “Manual describing the procedure for the creation of other types of files supported by the NSI”, which can be downloaded from the website www.intrastat.ro or provided on request by the National Statistical Institute. The file containing the Intrastat statistical declaration, in predefined format, is transmitted to the National Statistical Institute using the same procedure described in the previous point.

The National Institute of Statistics recommends the use of Intrastat online or offline applications because they contain predefined validation rules for accurate and valid Intrastat statistical declarations.

Important! Completion of the INTRASTAT statistical declaration is mandatory, iar transmiterea ei la Institutul National de Statistica se va face exclusiv pe cale electronica

Legal basis:

– http://www.intrastat.ro/

– INS Order no. 1493/2022 regarding Intrastat value thresholds for the collection of statistical information on intra-EU trade in goods in 2023;

– INS Order no. 1623/2022 regarding the approval of the Norms for completing the Intrastat statistical declaration.