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Romania: Are APAs a strategic tool or just an empty promise?
published on 15 June 2026
In March 2025, Romania adopted Government Emergency Ordinance No. 11/2025.
In June 2026, a draft order by the ANAF president was issued regarding the procedure for issuing and amending advance pricing agreements while in July 2026 this was adopted by Romanian Tax Authorities President as Order 827/2026.
Thus, for taxpayers engaged in intra-group transactions, APAs appear to be becoming an increasingly reliable and accessible tool.
However, in practice, an APA is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It can be strategic, but only in very carefully selected cases.
So the natural question is: when is it actually worth applying for an APA?
What exactly is an APA?
An advance pricing agreement is an administrative act issued by the tax authority, at the taxpayer’s request, for a fee. Through this agreement, the company seeks confirmation of how it sets transfer prices for certain intra-group transactions.
Simply put: the taxpayer does not wait for a tax audit to find out whether the method used is acceptable. Instead, the taxpayer approaches the tax authority, explains the transactions, presents the economic analysis, and requests an official position.
In theory, the advantage is clear. If the APA is issued, the company gains predictability. It knows which method it can apply.
For recurring transactions involving large amounts and significant tax implications, this clarity can make a big difference. An APA can reduce uncertainty, prevent repeated disputes, and provide a stable framework for the coming years.
What Does Emergency Ordinance No. 11/2025 Change?
First change: retroactive application
Government Emergency Ordinance No. 11/2025 allows for a request to extend the validity of the APA for transactions conducted under similar conditions, covering up to five fiscal years prior to the year in which the request was filed.
In other words, the APA would no longer apply only to the future. It could also cover the past, which makes it much more attractive to companies that have had the same intra-group transactions over several years.
But here lies the first limitation.
Retroactive application does not happen automatically. The taxpayer may request this extension, but the tax authority must approve it. The transactions must have been conducted under similar conditions, and the analysis must support the same economic rationale.
In other words, the law opens a door. It does not guarantee that the authority will actually walk through it.
The Second Change: Suspension of the Tax Audit
The second change concerns the tax audit. If an APA application is pending and the tax audit is examining the same taxes and the same periods, the audit may be suspended until the application is resolved.
This change also seems useful. Instead of having two procedures analyze the same risk area in parallel, the taxpayer can try to focus the discussion on the APA procedure. In certain cases, this can reduce the immediate pressure of the audit.
But here, too, moderation is key.
The suspension is a possibility, not a guaranteed outcome. The audit does not disappear. It is merely postponed. If the APA is not issued or if it does not cover all relevant aspects, the tax discussion may resume exactly where it left off.
And, in the meantime, during the waiting period, potential penalties and late payment surcharges may accrue.
Therefore, the suspension can help. But it doesn’t turn the APA into a quick fix.
Quite the opposite. With accumulated taxes, the waiting time after the APA is eventually issued may end up working against you.
How do these two changes play out in practice?
The two changes look good on paper. However, there is one issue: in order to issue an APA, the tax authority must take an official position prior to the audit.
This is no small matter.
An APA requires the tax administration to validate a transfer pricing method for transactions that may involve large amounts, complex structures, and significant tax implications. Ultimately, someone must sign off on a solution that will have consequences for both the taxpayer and the budget.
That is why the procedure remains cautious—and, often, slow.
Changes introduced by Order No. 827/2026 of the President of the Romanian Tax Authorities
Order No. 827/2026 of the President of the Romanian Tax Authorities further underscores the Romanian Tax Authorities’ focus on transfer pricing.
This new order introduces further improvements to both the format of APA documentation and the procedural framework governing APAs.
Despite all these amendments, it remains unclear to what extent these legislative updates will improve taxpayers’ prospects of successfully applying for an APA.
How effective is this mechanism in Romania?
The problem with APAs in Romania is not the concept of the mechanism itself. The problem is its efficiency.
The resolution process can take up to approximately 50 months. For a company, that means more than four years of waiting. During this time, contracts may change, margins may shift, the business model may evolve, and the transactions under review may no longer look the same.
A tool designed to provide predictability loses much of its value when certainty comes too late.
Costs exacerbate this problem. Romania is among the jurisdictions with high administrative fees for APAs, and these fees are not the only cost. The company must allocate internal time, external resources, consulting services, economic analysis, and extensive documentation.
For many companies, this effort is not justified.
For this reason, an APA should not be viewed as a one-size-fits-all solution for any transfer pricing risk. Under current conditions, it makes sense only for a small number of taxpayers. Few companies truly need an APA. And, given the level of responsibility involved in obtaining one, it is likely that few will actually secure one.
This conclusion is also reflected in the ATIPIC Index, the analysis in which our team compares the effectiveness of APAs across European Union member states. The exact data, methodology, and comparison between jurisdictions will be available in the document attached to the analysis.
For Romania, the message is clear: the mechanism exists, but it remains difficult to access, slow, and costly relative to the benefits obtained.
When is it worth considering an APA, though?
An APA is worth conducting only when the stakes justify the time, cost, and uncertainty involved in the process.
In practice, this means a few clear conditions:
➤ The company has recurring transactions and expects to continue conducting them for at least the next five years.
➤ The amounts are high, generally exceeding 10 million euros per year.
➤ It is difficult to reliably document the pricing mechanism in a standard file, for example because the margin achieved is very close to the upper limit of the market range.
➤ Transactions are complex or nearly unique in nature, and identifying appropriate comparables becomes difficult or even impossible during a tax audit.
In such cases, the APA makes sense. Because the risk is sufficiently high that the predictability may worth more than the costs attached to the procedure.
For the rest of the taxpayers, the real question remains: is it worth waiting years and pay higher taxes and to spend important resources fo a solution that may never come?
OUG nr. 11/2025 and Romanian Tax Authorities President Order 827/2026 makes APA’s more visible. It gives them greater relevance in the transfer pricing arena. But it doesn’t transform them automatically in a more efficient instrument for companies.
ATIPIC Solutions is a 100% transfer pricing dedicated and specialized transfer pricing firm with a culture centered around effectiveness of building reliable transfer pricing documentations though automations and innovation. We work with companies that have as their ERP of choice SAP, Oracle, Microsoft or Scala and we are recognized in the World TP / International Tax Review Rankings.
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