2025 begins with a series of economic and fiscal changes targeting both the business environment and the public sector. Employers and employees alike need to understand the new regulations.
At the core of these changes are Emergency Ordinance No. 156/2024, which establishes important fiscal and budgetary measures, and Decision No. 10/2025, which regulates the quota of newly admitted foreign workers on the labor market. These legislative acts, recently published in the Official Gazette, have a significant impact on salaries, pensions, taxation, and employment.
Discover the latest fiscal and legislative changes to help you make the right decisions for your business or career!
Fiscal and Budgetary Changes 2025
Emergency ordinance no.156/2024
Emergency ordinance no. 156/2024, published in the Official Gazette no. 1334 of December 31, 2024, regarding some fiscal-budgetary measures in the field of public expenditures for the foundation of the general consolidated budget for the year 2025, for the modification and completion of some normative acts, as well as for the extension of some terms, includes several changes:
Comments: This emergency ordinance brings a series of changes and additions such as:
Measures aimed at reducing various budget expenses, among which:
- The basic salaries, allowances, various increments, compensations, premiums, or other elements of the salary system received by the staff paid from public funds in 2025 are maintained at most at the level of November 2024;
- In 2025, the monthly value of the food allowance is maintained at the level of December 2024;
- In the year 2025, additional work over the normal duration of working time and work performed on weekly rest days, legal holidays, and on other non-working days performed by executive staff in the budgetary sector, management positions, and high-ranking civil servants, are compensated only with free time corresponding to them in the following 90 days after the performance of additional work;
- In the year 2025, the staff from public institutions and authorities will not benefit, upon termination of employment or service, from cash compensation for unused vacations related to the year 2025;
- Suspension of the occupation of vacant positions in public authorities and institutions, regardless of the financing and subordination system, including activities financed entirely from own revenues;
- The payment of the sums stipulated by final court rulings having as their object the granting of salary rights established in favor of the staff of public institutions and authorities, which became executory in 2025, is staggered over the next 5 years;
- Postponing the indexation of pensions, including those of the military, magistrates, former parliamentarians or other service pensions, until January 1, 2026, as well as maintaining their reference point at the current value of 81 lei for 2025;
- State allowances are maintained in payment in 2025 at the level granted for the month of November 2025;
- In 2025, vacation vouchers in the amount of 800 lei will be granted to staff whose net basic salaries from the month prior to their granting are up to 8,000 lei. The holiday vouchers issued during the year 2025 are used for the payment of no more than 50% of the value of the purchased tourist service packages, respectively 800 lei for the purchase of tourist service packages worth at least 1,600 lei;
- Maintaining in 2025 the value of the reference social indicator, according to which various state aid is calculated, at the level set for November 2024.
Changes to the Fiscal Code:
- Dividend tax – the dividend tax rate increases from 8% to 10%, being applicable to income from dividends distributed after January 1, 2025. Dividend tax is established by applying a tax rate of 10% on the gross dividend paid to a person Romanian legal. Dividend tax is declared and paid to the state budget, up to and including the 25th of the month following the month in which the dividend is paid.
- Income tax for micro-enterprises – The turnover ceiling for micro-enterprises drops from EUR 500,000 to EUR 250,000 for 2025, with the result that starting from January 1, 2026, the ceiling will be EUR 100,000. The condition regarding the share of income from consulting and/or management in total income, as of December 31, 2024, does not apply to the calculation of the EUR 250,000 limit;
- New CAEN codes are being introduced for which the 3% rate is applicable when calculating the income tax of micro-enterprises, namely:
- 6210 – Custom software creation activities (customer-oriented software),
- 6290 – Other service activities regarding information technology,
- 5611 – Restaurants,
- 5612 – Activities of mobile catering units,
- 5622 – Other food services;
- If a micro-enterprise achieves revenues greater than 250,000 euros, respectively 100,000 euros, during a fiscal year starting with January 1, 2026, it owes profit tax starting with the quarter in which this limit was exceeded.
- The facilities granted to employees in the fields of IT (programmers), construction, the agricultural sector, and the food industry are repealed (the tax exemption is eliminated and the reduction in the share of the social insurance contribution (CAS) related to the II pillar of pensions is eliminated);
- For the year 2025, the applicability of the facility consisting of 300 non-taxable lei is maintained, for employees who carry out activity based on the individual employment contract, employed full-time, at the place where the basic function is located, whose basic monthly gross salary is established according to the contract individual work, without including increments and other additions, is equal to the level of the country’s minimum gross salary guaranteed in payment, in force in the month to which they relate the incomes;
- Starting with January 1, 2025, the gross minimum basic salary per country guaranteed in payment is set in money, without including allowances, increments and other additions, for a normal work schedule of 165,334 hours per month on average:
– for the construction sector: at the amount of 4,582 lei per month, representing on average 27,714 lei/hour;
– for the agricultural sector and the food industry: 4,050 lei per month, representing an average of 24,496 lei/hour.
Regulations on the Employment of Foreign Workers and Labor Force Support Measures in 2025
Decision no. 10/2025, published in the Official Gazette no. 37 of January 16, 2025 regarding the establishment of the quota of foreign workers newly admitted to the labor market in 2025, makes the following mentions:
Comments: For the year 2025, a quota of 100,000 foreign workers newly admitted to the Romanian labor market is established.
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