Under the provisions of:

– Article 60 point 2 of Law no.227/2015 on the Tax Code, as amended;

– Article 12(3) of Government Decision No 371/2021 on the organisation and functioning of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitisation, as amended and supplemented;

– Article 13(3) of Government Decision No 369/2021 on the organisation and functioning of the Ministry of Education, as amended and supplemented;

– Article 18(3) of Government Decision No 23/2022 on the organisation and functioning of the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity, as amended;

– Article 10(4) of Government Decision No 34/2009 on the organisation and functioning of the Ministry of Finance, as amended and supplemented,

The Minister for Research, Innovation and Digitisation, the Minister for Education, the Minister for Labour and Social Solidarity and the Minister for Finance issue this Order.

Article  1

(1) Employees of economic operators operating on the territory of Romania in accordance with the legislation in force, whose object of activity includes the creation of computer programs (CAEN codes 5821, 5829, 6201, 6202, 6209), benefit from the exemption from the payment of tax on income from salaries and assimilated salaries, provided for in Article 60 point 2 of Law no. 227/2015 on the Tax Code, as amended and supplemented, if the following conditions are met cumulatively:

1. a) the posts on which they are employed correspond to those on the list of occupations and activities set out in Sections 1 and 2 of the Annex;
2. b) the post is part of a department whose subject matter is at least one of the following areas, as identified in the employer’s organisation chart: information and communication technology, artificial intelligence and emerging digital technologies, electronic tax administration, databases, e-government services and digital transformation;
3. c) hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education, or a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education, or a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education, and are actually engaged in one of the activities listed in the Annex;
4. d) the employer has in the previous fiscal year and has separately recorded in the analytical balance sheets income from the activity of creating computer programs for commercialization;
5. e) the annual income referred to in point d) shall have a value that is at least the equivalent in lei of 10,000 euro (calculated at the average monthly exchange rate communicated by the National Bank of Romania for each month in which the income was recorded) for each employee benefiting from the income tax exemption.

(2) Companies which are set up during the tax year shall be exempted from fulfilling the condition laid down in paragraph 1(d) for the year of setting up and for the following tax year in order to benefit from the tax relief provided for in paragraph 1.

(3) Companies which, during the year, have been subject to a reorganisation in accordance with the law shall be exempt from the condition laid down in paragraph (1)(d) for the year in which the reorganisation took place in order to benefit from the tax relief provided for in paragraph (1).

(4) The provisions of paragraph (1) shall apply to employees whose diplomas are equivalent to or recognised by the specialised structures of the Ministry of Education at the level of the diplomas referred to in paragraph (1)(c).

(5) The provisions of paragraph (1) shall apply to employees whose diplomas are equivalent to or recognised by the specialised structures of the Ministry of Education at the level of the baccalaureate diploma and who attend an accredited higher education institution.

Article  2

(1) Employees of public institutions, as defined in Article 2 paragraph (1) point 30 of the Law no. 500/2002 on public finances, as amended and supplemented, and of local public institutions, as defined in Article 2 paragraph (1) point 39 of the Law no. 273/2006 on local public finances, as amended and supplemented, for the period during which they carry out activities of creating computer programs, according to the specific competences and duties set out in the job description or in any other legal act establishing the employee’s job duties, shall benefit from the tax exemption on income from wages and salaries, provided for in Article 60 paragraph 2 of Law no. 227/2015 on the Tax Code, as amended and supplemented, if the conditions of this Article, as well as those provided for in Article 1 paragraph (1) (b) and (c), are cumulatively met.

(2)By exception to the provisions of Article 1 paragraph (1) letter b), in the case of public institutions referred to in paragraph (1), the post allocated to the performance of the activity of software creation may also belong to the category of those established outside the organization chart, according to the law.

(3) The posts allocated to the activity of software development shall be established by administrative act of the head of the public institution referred to in paragraph 1.

(4)The head of the public institution, in order to grant the tax facility to the employees referred to in paragraph (1), shall provide in the job description or in any other legal act establishing the employee’s job duties at least one of the activities referred to in Section 2 of the Annex.

(5)The provisions of Article 1(4) and (5) shall apply accordingly.

(6)Separate records of the activities of employees benefiting from the provisions of paragraph (1) shall be kept on a monthly basis, during the period in which the activity of creating computer programs is actually carried out, for the purpose of granting the tax facility. The way in which the activity carried out on a monthly basis is recorded shall be established by administrative act of the head of the public institution referred to in paragraph 1.

Article  3

(1)The activity of creating computer programs, within the meaning of the provisions of Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code, as amended and supplemented, refers to the actual performance of at least one of the activities of creating computer programs, corresponding to the specific occupations set out in the Annex, as appropriate, corresponding to the activities set out in the Annex and individualized in the job description or in any other legal act establishing the duties of the service.

(2) The exemption from tax on income from wages and salaries for the employees referred to in Article 2(1) shall apply for the entire period during which they actually carry out the activity of creating computer programs.

(3) Where the activity of creating computer programs is actually carried out for a fraction of a month, the exemption from tax on income from wages and salaries for the employees referred to in Article 2 (1) shall apply to the entire income from wages and salaries for that month.

Article  4

(1) The supporting documents to be considered when classifying persons exempted from the payment of tax on income from wages and salaries, in accordance with the provisions of Law no. 227/2015 on the Tax Code, as amended and supplemented, according to the specific occupations and activities set out in the Annex, are:

1. a) the instrument of incorporation, in the case of the economic operator;
2. b) the employer’s organisation chart;
3. c) the job description or any other legal document setting out the employee’s duties;
4. d) a copy, marked “certified true”, of the degree obtained on completion of a long or short course of higher education or on completion of the first cycle of undergraduate studies, respectively a copy, marked “certified true”, of the document of equivalence or recognition of the degree, issued by the specialised structures of the Ministry of Education, for employees who are natural persons;
5. e) the certificate of graduation from undergraduate studies, issued by the higher education institution concerned, if the graduation diploma has not yet been issued, respectively the copy of the document of equivalence or recognition issued by the specialized structures of the Ministry of Education, with the mention “in conformity with the original”, for employees who are natural persons;
6. f) a copy of the “certified true copy” of the baccalaureate diploma, respectively a copy of the “certified true copy” of the certificate of equivalence or recognition of the diploma, issued by the specialized structures of the Ministry of Education, including for employees attending an accredited higher education institution;
7. g) certificate attesting that the person is attending higher education, if the employee holds a baccalaureate diploma, and the document of equivalence or recognition, if applicable, but has not graduated from short university studies or long university studies or the first cycle of undergraduate studies. The certificate shall state the following: the university, the normative act by which the university has been accredited, the faculty, the study programme, the form of education, including the year of study followed at the date of the application, the school situation, so as to prove the student status, according to the legal provisions in force;
8. h) a copy, marked “certified true copy”, of the diploma supplement, requested by the employer, in order to exclude periods of interruption of schooling from the tax exemption, if these interruptions have not been declared by the beneficiary of the exemption, where the employee holds a baccalaureate diploma and the document of equivalence or recognition, as the case may be, but has not graduated from a short university course or a long university course or the first cycle of undergraduate studies, on completion of a course at an accredited higher education institution;
9. i) a copy of the individual employment contract or of any other legal document issued by the head of the public institution on the basis of which the employment relationship/employment relationship is exercised, marked “certified true copy”;
10. j) the memorandum of association, in the case of j) the payroll drawn up separately for employees benefiting from the exemption from the payment of tax on income from wages and salaries and assimilated to wages, provided for in Article 60 point 2 of Law no. 227/2015 on the Tax Code, as amended;

k)the internal order approved by the employer’s authorized management body, certifying the request to initiate the process of creating computer programs;

1. l) the analytical balance sheet, in which the income from the software creation activity is clearly reflected.

(2) By exception to the provisions of paragraph (1), in the case of employees referred to in Article 2 paragraph (1), the supporting documents to be taken into account when classifying them as persons exempt from the payment of tax on income from wages and salaries, in accordance with the provisions of Law no. 227/2015 on the Tax Code, are those referred to in paragraph (1) letter b)-j), as appropriate, as well as the document/documents certifying the initiation and duration of the process of creating computer programs, approved/approved by the head of the public institution.

(3)The file containing the supporting documents shall be kept at the employer’s premises for inspection purposes. If the employer keeps the supporting documents in electronic format, they shall be signed with a qualified electronic signature provided by an accredited service provider.

(4)For the collection of the documents referred to in paragraph (1) and (2), the provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance No. 41/2016 on the establishment of simplification measures at the level of central public administration, local public administration and public institutions and for the amendment and completion of certain regulatory acts, approved with amendments by Law No. 179/2017, as amended and supplemented.computer programs shall apply.

Article  5

(1) The exemption from the payment of tax on income from wages and salaries, provided for in Article 60, point 2 of Law no. 227/2015 on the Tax Code, as amended and supplemented, shall be applied monthly only to income from wages and salaries, obtained from carrying out an activity of creating computer programs, under an individual employment contract, a service relationship, act of delegation or secondment or a special status provided by law, regardless of the time of employment of the person benefiting from the exemption, and without being conditional on his contribution to the achievement of the minimum income ceiling provided for in Article 1 paragraph (1) letter e).

(2) In the case of income from salaries and similar income from the activity of creating computer programs on the territory of Romania, on the basis of an act of secondment or delegation, the exemption shall be granted if the employees referred to in Article 1 paragraph (1) and Article 2 paragraph (1) and the payer of income meet the conditions laid down in this Order.

(3) The granting of exemption from the payment of tax on income from wages and salaries and assimilated to wages and salaries is the responsibility of the employer/payer of income in the case of employees referred to in Article 1 and of the head of the public institution in the case of employees referred to in Article 2.

Article  6

The Annex is an integral part of this Order and shall be updated periodically in accordance with the amendments and additions to the Romanian Classification of Professions

Article  7

The provisions of this Order shall be implemented by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitisation, the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance.

Article  8

(1)The provisions of this Order shall enter into force on the 1st of the month following its publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, and shall apply as from the income corresponding to the month of entry into force of this Order.

(2)On the date of entry into force of this Order, the Order of the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitisation, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity and the Minister of Finance No 21.813/6.421/2.246/4.433/2022 on the classification of the activity of software creation, published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I, No 1252 of 23 December 2022, is repealed.

Article  9

This Order shall be published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I..

ANNEXE: LIST of occupations specific to software development activities