Bitcoin tax regime in Romania – FAQ

Historically speaking, before January 2019, the Romanian tax legislation did not regulate in any way the Bitcoin tax regime in Romania, or for income from profits made from the trading of any type of virtual currencies.

However, the fact that the taxation of cryptocurrencies in Romania was not specifically mentioned in the tax legislation does not mean that such gains could not be taxed by the authorities. The Romanian Tax Code (Law no. 227/2015) did not include them in any specifically defined category of income, but at the same time did not exclude such income from the general rule of taxation.

Therefore, the gains that an individual derived from buying and selling of Bitcoins or any other type of cryptocurrency (Ethereum, Ripple, Stellar, Litecoin, etc.) were considered taxable income and taxed as income from other sources even before January 2019.

Starting with January 20, 2019 however, based on the Ordinance no. 25/2018 which amended the Romanian Tax Code, the income derived from the transfer of digital currencies was for the first time specifically regulated from a tax perspective. More exactly, under Article 114, paragraph (2) of the Romanian Tax Code, the authorities introduced letter m), applying starting with the income tax due for the revenues generated in 2019.

Thus, under the newly introduced letter, starting with the revenues related to year 2019, it was clarified that the income from the transfer of digital currencies derived by individuals must be taxed as “income from other sources”.