Submission of SAF-T reports mandatory as of 1 January 2022

02 Sep 2021

In detail

The Standard Audit File for Tax purposes (SAF-T) is a new declaratory obligation imposed on taxpayers. It reflects the international standard for the electronic exchange of taxpayers’ accounting and tax data between companies, organisations and tax authorities. SAF-T involves the periodic reporting of a set of information (in addition to tax returns) in a predefined format that facilitates tax authority reviews of taxpayer operations.

Government Ordinance no. 11/2021 for the amendment and completion of Law no. 207/2015 on the Fiscal Procedure Code and for the regulation of certain fiscal measures (GO no. 11/2021) makes it mandatory for taxpayers to start SAF-T reporting as of 1 January 2022.

Taxpayers will have to submit the SAF-T in the form of an informative declaration in electronic format that will include information from their accounting and fiscal records. The legal deadline for submission is to be established by a President of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration order. In the event of errors being detected, SAF-Ts will be considered to have been submitted on time if the error is remedied and file resubmitted within five working days as of the legal submission deadline.

The tax authorities will examine SAF-Ts to verify that the data provided matches that in taxpayer tax records, including during tax inspections. They are also required to provide a copy of the file or a link for accessing the electronic version in the event of administrative or judicial proceedings.

Submitting incorrect or incomplete SAF-Ts and failure to submit them by the established deadline will constitute contraventions and result in fines ofed as follows:

  • RON 1,000 to RON 5,000 for failure to submit the SAF-T on time;

  • RON 500 to RON 1,500 for incorrect or incomplete submissions.

Taxpayers which correct errors in their SAF-T files by the submission deadline will not be fined, nor will those which correct after the deadline any errors as a result of a fact not attributable to them.

The nature of the information that taxpayers will have to declare, the reporting model, the procedure, the conditions of transmission and the date/dates from which the various categories of taxpayers will be obliged to submit SAF-T will be approved by an order of the president of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF).

That order has not been published yet, but ANAF recently published on www.anaf.ro, under Decision Transparency, the preliminary SAF-T documentation requirements.

Taxpayers with SAF-T reporting obligations 

  • Romanian legal entities and those without Romanian legal personality of foreign legal entities that keep double entry accounting will have to prepare and submit the SAF-T through Informative Declaration D406, as follows:

    • Taxpayers already in the category of large taxpayers – as of 1 January 2022 (reference date for large taxpayers);

    • Taxpayers already in the category of medium taxpayers – during 2022;

    • Taxpayers already in the category of small taxpayers – during 2023.

  • Non-resident companies registered for VAT purposes will have to complete and submit Information Return D406 in a simplified form.

  • Companies that are part of VAT groups or a tax group that apply the corporate tax consolidation system will have to submit SAF-T individually, not at group level.

Reporting method and deadlines

Taxpayers will have to submit SAF-T in the form of Information Return D406 monthly or quarterly, depending on the applicable tax period for value added tax (VAT). Taxpayers not registered for VAT purposes will have to submit SAF-T file quarterly.

SAF-T reporting will be in electronic format only by:

  • the last calendar day of the month following the reporting period (calendar month/quarter, as appropriate, for information other than Stocks and Assets).

  • the deadline for submitting financial year financial statements – in the case of Information Statement D406-Active.

  • the date established by the fiscal body, which may not be fewer than 30 calendar days as of the date of request – in the case of the Informative Declaration D406-Stocks.

The maximum size of the D406 Information Statement is 500 MB. If the Declaration exceeds that limit, taxpayers will have to submit the data in several parts (i.e. several D406 Declarations in the same month for each taxpayer).

If a taxpayer subsequently discovers errors in a submitted D406 Declaration, corrective statements may be submitted.

The takeaway 

SAF-T reporting involves the periodic reporting of a set of information (in addition to tax returns) in a predefined format that facilitates tax authority verification of taxpayer operations.

As of 1 January 2022, taxpayers will have to submit to the tax authority an information statement including information from their accounting and tax records. The tax authorities will use SAF-Ts  to determine taxpayers’ situations, including during tax inspections, along with other declarations and documentary evidence.

The nature of the information that taxpayers will have to declare, the reporting model, the procedure, conditions of transmission and start date/dates from which the various categories of taxpayers will have to submit SAF-Ts will be approved by order of the ANAF president.

PwC has a dedicated team that can assist you in preparing for the new SAF-T reporting. That includes access to the application we provide, which processes and validates the data to be reported in the SAF-T file and generates the file in xml format. For more details on the stages of preparation for SAF-T and the presentation of the application that verifies the data and prepares the SAF-T file, our dedicated team is at your disposal.

 

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