Romania's e-VAT notice no longer exists. What is left of the pre-filled return

For two years the „e-TVA compliance notice” was the thing everyone feared: twenty days to reply, a fine of up to 10,000 lei if you did not, and selection for inspection if you stayed silent. From January 2026 the fines and the duty to reply were gone. From March the notice itself was gone. The pre-filled return stayed — and only now became useful.

1. What changed, step by step

2. Why the state gave up

The stated reason is unusually candid for a legal act: the tax authority could not process the replies. When the repeal came in March, the argument was simpler still — since the taxpayer receives the pre-filled return anyway and can see the differences, notifying them about those differences is redundant.

3. What is still standing

• the pre-filled return is still generated and lands in the tax portal by the 5th of the following month;
• your own return remains the only document with legal force. The pre-filled one is a mirror, not a filing;
• the tax authority can still inspect you — not through the e-VAT mechanism, but under its general powers.

So it is not „e-VAT was cancelled”. It is „the part that threatened you was cancelled”. The part that shows you what the state knows about you is still there.

4. 30 September: a date that no longer brings anything

For taxpayers on VAT on collection, GEO 89/2025 suspended the compliance notifications until 30 September 2026, because matching invoices to actual cash flows is far harder. In March the notification was abolished for everyone (GEO 13/2026 repealed articles 5 and 8 of GEO 70/2024), so no new obligation starts on 1 October: you owe nothing and risk nothing by not replying. The pre-filled return stays what it is for everyone — a mirror worth reading, especially on VAT on collection, where matching to payments is the hardest part for the system.

5. What to do with a return you are not obliged to read

Read it. It is the only place where you see, free and before any inspection, what reached the tax authority about you. A large difference usually has one of four causes: a supplier's invoice never entered the e-invoicing system; you deducted VAT from an invoice the supplier never sent; the moment the tax became chargeable differs; or an invoice was sent twice. The first two are the ones that cost money at an inspection — and you see them months ahead.