VAT refund procedure

Order of the President of the ANAF no. 1123/2026, published in Official Gazette no. 823 of 28 September 2026, amends and supplements Order of the President of the ANAF no. 352/2022 on the settlement of VAT returns showing negative amounts with a refund option.

The basic procedure remains in force, but the assessment of the risk of an undue VAT refund is substantially expanded. The new rules apply to VAT returns relating to August 2026 and the third quarter of 2026, as well as to VAT returns currently being processed, except for those forwarded to the specialised department for settlements following a pre-refund tax inspection.

We outline the most important changes below.

Tax risk assessment

Numerous new circumstances are introduced for determining whether a taxable person presents a risk of an undue VAT refund, including:

the situation of the taxable person’s shareholders, associates or directors, or that of other entities in which they hold similar positions (for example, entries in the special database of taxable persons with a risk of undue VAT refunds or in the tax record)
the amount claimed as a refund is significantly influenced by frequent corrections of material errors or shows a significant increase compared with previous periods
the taxable person failed to submit statements D394, D390 and D406 by the applicable deadlines
the taxable person is subject to insolvency prevention proceedings, is insolvent or was incorporated less than six months before filing the VAT return for a negative amount with a refund option
certain amounts reported in the VAT return differ significantly from the corresponding information reported through the national RO e-Invoice and RO Electronic Cash Register systems.

Suppliers

The risk of an undue VAT refund is also deemed to exist where at least one of the suppliers that issued the invoices accounting for a significant proportion of deductible VAT is in circumstances that may indicate a tax risk.

In this situation, the following circumstances, among others, are relevant: inclusion in databases of taxable persons with a risk of undue refunds, insolvency, bankruptcy or liquidation, the existence of offences on the tax record, failure to comply with filing obligations, outstanding VAT liabilities, significant discrepancies between data reported through the national RO e-Invoice and RO Electronic Cash Register systems and the VAT returns, inactive taxpayer status or cancellation of the VAT registration number, and incorporation and/or VAT registration within the last six months before the filing of the VAT return under review.

Related parties

The new procedure also qualifies as a risk of an undue VAT refund the situation in which at least one supplier whose invoices account for a significant proportion of deductible VAT is affiliated with the person claiming the VAT refund.

Source: Order of the President of the ANAF no. 1123/2026, Official Gazette no. 823 of 28 September 2026; Order of the President of the ANAF no. 352/2022, Official Gazette no. 242 of 11 March 2022, as subsequently amended and supplemented.