PFA vs. SRL for Programmers and Freelancers in Romania: The Complete 2026 Tax Guide

A Romanian programmer lands a contract worth €4,000 a month.

The client does not care whether the invoice comes from a PFA or an SRL. They care that the work gets done. But for the programmer, that decision can change how much of that €4,000 actually reaches their pocket.

This is where the familiar Romanian search query comes up: pfa vs srl programatori.

The answer is not simply “SRL pays less tax.” In 2026, Romania’s tax rules have changed enough to make that shortcut unreliable. Dividend tax is now 16%, the microenterprise regime has a €100,000 revenue threshold, and the maximum CASS base for independent activities has increased to 72 minimum gross salaries.

So if you are a programmer, software developer, consultant or freelancer deciding how to structure your income, you need to look at the entire calculation.

Not just the headline tax rate.

PFA vs. SRL: What actually changes?

The fundamental difference is simple.

With a PFA, your business activity is directly connected to you as an individual. In the real system, your taxable income generally starts with your business revenue and is reduced by eligible deductible expenses. Income tax and social contributions are then calculated according to the applicable rules.

An SRL is a separate legal entity. The client pays the company rather than you personally. The company pays its own taxes and business expenses, and you can subsequently extract money from the company, including through dividends.

That second step is where many online PFA vs. SRL comparisons become misleading.

Money sitting in an SRL is not automatically your personal money.

If you want to take company profits out as dividends, dividend taxation applies. From 1 January 2026, the dividend tax rate is 16%.

And depending on your total non-salary income, CASS may also apply.

That means an SRL calculation needs to follow the money all the way from client invoice to personal income.

How much does a PFA pay in 2026?

Let’s use a realistic example.

Imagine a freelance developer generates RON 240,000 in annual revenue.

During the year, they have RON 40,000 in legitimate business expenses that qualify for deduction.

That leaves:

RON 240,000 – RON 40,000 = RON 200,000 net income

For a PFA in the real system, this net income becomes the starting point for the tax calculation.

CAS: 25%

CAS is the pension contribution and has a rate of 25%.

For independent activities, the 2026 thresholds are linked to the minimum gross salary. The relevant annual thresholds are 12 and 24 minimum salaries.

Using the RON 4,050 minimum salary applicable for these annual calculations:

12 salaries = RON 48,600

24 salaries = RON 97,200

Once the relevant threshold is reached, the CAS calculation uses the applicable minimum contribution base.

For our example, the income is above 24 minimum salaries, so using the minimum 24-salary base:

RON 97,200 × 25% = RON 24,300 CAS

CASS: 10%

CASS is the health insurance contribution and is calculated at 10%.

This is where 2026 introduced an important change.

For income from independent activities, the maximum CASS calculation base is now 72 minimum gross salaries, up from 60.

Using RON 4,050:

72 × RON 4,050 = RON 291,600

Our developer has RON 200,000 in net income, so the income is below the maximum base.

Therefore:

RON 200,000 × 10% = RON 20,000 CASS

Income tax: 10%

For this simplified example, assume the relevant CAS contribution is deducted when determining the taxable income.

That gives:

RON 200,000 – RON 24,300 = RON 175,700

Income tax:

RON 175,700 × 10% = RON 17,570

So the simplified calculation looks like this:

This is an illustrative calculation rather than an individual tax assessment. The exact result depends on the taxpayer’s circumstances, eligible expenses, exemptions and the way the applicable contribution bases are determined.

But it gives us something useful to compare.

Now let’s run the same business through an SRL.

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SRL taxation in 2026: the calculation looks different

Assume the same programmer invoices:

RON 240,000

And the company has:

RON 40,000 in eligible business expenses

For this example, assume the company qualifies for Romania’s 1% microenterprise tax regime.

The microenterprise tax would be:

RON 240,000 × 1% = RON 2,400

After the RON 40,000 in expenses and the RON 2,400 micro tax:

RON 240,000 – RON 40,000 – RON 2,400 = RON 197,600

The company now has RON 197,600 available before considering how the money is extracted.

If the entire amount is distributed as dividends, the 16% dividend tax is:

RON 197,600 × 16% = RON 31,616

That leaves:

RON 165,984

But we are not finished.

Taxes on dividends: where the 6, 12 and 24 salary thresholds matter

Dividends are also relevant when determining whether an individual owes CASS on certain non-salary income.

The important thresholds are 6, 12 and 24 minimum gross salaries.

Using RON 4,050:

At the highest threshold:

RON 97,200 × 10% = RON 9,720 CASS

Our hypothetical dividend income is comfortably above the 24-salary threshold.

So the simplified SRL calculation becomes:

Under these assumptions, the SRL leaves approximately:

RON 156,264

compared with:

RON 138,130

under our PFA example.

That’s a difference of:

RON 18,134 per year.

And this is exactly where a live tax calculator becomes useful.

Because changing just one assumption can change the result.

The hidden costs behind the PFA vs. SRL calculation

The SRL example above looks better.

But there is a catch.

We deliberately simplified it.

A company that wants to use the microenterprise regime has to meet the relevant eligibility conditions. In 2026, the revenue ceiling is €100,000, and other conditions also apply, including the requirement concerning employees.

There are also accounting, payroll and administration costs.

And if you pay yourself a salary through the company, that salary creates another layer in the calculation.

So you cannot compare:

PFA tax

against

SRL dividend tax

and call it a complete PFA vs. SRL comparison.

You need to compare the entire structure.

That means company tax, salary costs where applicable, dividend tax, CASS, accounting costs and the amount of money you actually want to withdraw.

What about deductible business expenses?

This is one area where the structure of your work matters enormously.

A freelancer with very few expenses has a different tax profile from a freelancer who spends heavily on equipment, software, subcontractors, professional services and other legitimate business costs.

For a PFA operating under the real system, eligible expenses connected to the activity can reduce taxable net income.

For an SRL, business expenses are recorded by the company and their tax treatment depends on the type of expense and the applicable deductibility rules.

The important point is not to treat every personal purchase as a business expense simply because you can get an invoice.

The expense needs to have a legitimate connection to the business and satisfy the relevant documentation and tax requirements.

This is particularly important for freelancers working from home.

A laptop used to write software for clients is easy to understand as a business-related expense. Other costs can require much more careful treatment.

Norma de venit: Is it actually useful for programmers?

Searches for norma de venit are common among Romanian freelancers because the system can produce a very different tax calculation from the real system.

Under the norm-of-income system, eligible independent activities are taxed using a predetermined annual income level rather than simply calculating taxable income from actual revenue minus actual expenses.

That sounds attractive.

But there is a major qualification.

Not every freelancer can use norma de venit.

Eligibility depends on the activity and the applicable classification and local rules. A programmer should therefore not assume that having a PFA automatically means they can choose this system.

Before making the decision, check whether your exact activity and CAEN classification qualify under the 2026 rules.

This matters because choosing a PFA specifically because someone told you that “norma de venit is cheaper” can lead to a very different result if your activity is not eligible.

What about the 33% extra-salary benefit basket?

There is another calculation that becomes relevant when an SRL owner also receives salary income.

Romanian tax rules provide a framework under which certain employee benefits can receive favorable tax treatment within a monthly ceiling of 33% of the employee’s basic salary, subject to the specific conditions and limits applicable to each benefit.

This is sometimes described online as the 33% non-taxable benefits basket.

But calling it “33% tax-free salary” is too simplistic.

The 33% figure is a ceiling for qualifying benefits. Individual benefits can have their own conditions and limits, and their treatment can differ depending on income tax and social contribution rules.

For a company owner who is also an employee, however, properly structured benefits can become part of the overall compensation strategy.

That means the real comparison is not always:

PFA vs. dividends.

Sometimes it is:

PFA vs. salary + benefits + dividends through an SRL.

PFA vs. SRL for high-earning freelancers

The higher your income becomes, the more important the structure becomes.

A freelancer earning RON 100,000 a year may value simplicity more than sophisticated tax planning.

Someone billing RON 300,000, RON 400,000 or RON 500,000 annually has more reason to examine the interaction between business expenses, social contributions, dividend taxation, salary and reinvestment.

There is another question that often gets ignored:

Do you actually need all the money personally?

If you run an SRL and do not need to withdraw every leu immediately, the company can retain money for legitimate business purposes.

You might use it to buy equipment, hire another developer, pay subcontractors, invest in software, build a product or expand the business.

That can make the SRL structure useful even when the immediate personal tax calculation is not dramatically different.

PFA or SRL: which one should a Romanian programmer choose?

There is no universal winner.

A PFA can make sense when you want a simpler structure, have relatively straightforward freelance activity and do not need the additional corporate structure of an SRL.

An SRL can make more sense when revenue is consistently high, you work with corporate clients, want to reinvest profits, want to separate personal and business finances, or intend to build something larger than a one-person freelance operation.

The key is to stop treating pfa vs srl programatori as a question with one permanent answer.

Your revenue matters.

Your expenses matter.

How much money you withdraw matters.

Whether you qualify for the microenterprise regime matters.

Whether you have salary income matters.

And the tax rules in force that year matter.

Also read; Where Can Companies Find Production Workers in Europe?

A better way to calculate PFA vs. SRL

Before registering anything, build the calculation around your actual numbers.

Start with annual revenue.

Then subtract realistic business expenses.

For the PFA scenario, calculate income tax, CAS and CASS.

For the SRL scenario, calculate the applicable company tax, salary costs if relevant, dividend tax and CASS.

Then add the costs that are easy to forget: accounting, payroll administration, banking, software and other recurring business expenses.

Finally, run the calculation again using a higher revenue scenario.

This last step matters because the structure that works at RON 150,000 in annual revenue may not be the structure you want at RON 400,000.

Abschließende Gedanken

Romania’s tax rules have changed considerably going into 2026.

Dividend tax is now 16%. The microenterprise revenue ceiling is €100,000, and the PFA CASS ceiling for independent activities has increased to 72 minimum salaries.

That makes old blog posts, old calculators and generic “PFA vs. SRL” advice increasingly unreliable.

The better approach is to put your own numbers into a current calculation and see what happens.