01Your tax system decides what you need, not the software
Before you compare any program, find out how your PFA is taxed, because ANAF treats the two ways very differently. A presentation by ANAF's Cluj-Napoca regional directorate dated 22 April 2026 says that on norma de venit a taxpayer completes only the income part of the Registrul de evidență fiscală and has no accounting-records obligations. In sistem real, the taxpayer keeps simple-entry accounting under art. 68 of the Fiscal Code and Ministry of Finance Order 170/2015, completing the Registrul de încasări și plăți and the Registrul-inventar, plus the Registrul de evidență fiscală. The same document says double-entry accounting is an option, with exceptions. ANAF also says norma de venit applies only to listed activities, so it is not open to every PFA, and your accountant confirms which system applies to you.
- Norma de venit: only the income part of the Registrul de evidență fiscală and no accounting-records obligations, per ANAF
- Sistem real: simple-entry accounting under Order 170/2015, with the receipts and payments register, the inventory register and the Registrul de evidență fiscală
- Liberal professions such as doctors, lawyers and architects are taxed in sistem real, per ANAF
- Double-entry is an option in sistem real, with exceptions: ask your accountant
02If you are on norma de venit: the day that changes
A PFA on norma de venit may need very little software, and a full bookkeeping package on day one may be money spent early. It does need a clean way to issue invoices, a folder for documents and a calendar for the single declaration, which individuals with independent activities file by 25 May of the following year (25 May 2026 for 2025 income, per ANAF), online through SPV or on paper. ANAF also says a declaration with errors is not considered filed. The day that changes is set by ANAF too: moving to sistem real is mandatory from the fiscal year after gross annual income passes the lei equivalent of 25,000 euro, and an option you choose binds you for two fiscal years.
- On norma de venit, an invoice tool, a folder for documents and a calendar may be enough at the start
- Single declaration: by 25 May of the following year (25 May 2026 for 2025 income), through SPV or on paper
- A declaration with errors is not treated as filed, per ANAF
- Mandatory move to sistem real from the fiscal year after gross annual income passes the lei equivalent of 25,000 euro
03Invoices are the part where the state gets involved
Whatever the tax system, a PFA that invoices other businesses will probably meet RO e-Factura. The European Commission's country sheet on e-invoicing in Romania, dated August 2025, says Law 296/2023 set the B2B mandate from 1 January 2024 and that since 1 January 2025 taxpayers established in Romania must report all domestic B2C transactions in RO e-Factura. ANAF also publishes a web application for completing an invoice in the electronic XML-UBL format. Whether your own invoices must go through the system, and how, depends on your case, so ask your accountant, and look for a program that can send invoices into it for you, so nobody retypes them.
- B2B mandate from 1 January 2024 (Law 296/2023), per the European Commission country sheet
- Domestic B2C reporting in RO e-Factura since 1 January 2025, per the same page
- ANAF offers a web application for completing an XML-UBL invoice
- Ask your accountant whether your invoices must go through the system, and in what way
04What to check in a program before you rely on it
We name no program here, and not by accident: we have not checked any vendor's claims for this article, and prices and free periods change. So test any program against what this article took from ANAF. Does the vendor's own page say it keeps the registers your tax system requires: on norma de venit the income part of the Registrul de evidență fiscală, in sistem real also the Registrul de încasări și plăți and the Registrul-inventar? Does it cope with the move from norma de venit to sistem real, which ANAF says can become mandatory? Does it prepare the figures your accountant needs for the single declaration, due by 25 May of the following year? Put each answer to your accountant before you commit.
- Registers: does the vendor's page say the program keeps the ones your tax system requires, as described above from ANAF?
- The switch: does it handle the move from norma de venit to sistem real, and what happens to the records you already entered?
- Declarația unică: does it prepare the figures your accountant needs for it, due by 25 May of the following year?
- Double entry: if your accountant chooses it in sistem real, does the program offer it?
- Read the vendor's page yourself on the day you sign up: we checked none for this article
05Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice for a PFA
PROOF48 does not sell or resell accounting software, so nothing you choose earns us anything. If you are a sole trader just starting out, with a few invoices and an accountant who already has a program, you do not need custom software and you should not hire us for this. Use a ready-made program or ANAF's web application, and let your accountant guide the choice. Where we can help is narrower: a business whose invoices are created in other systems and must arrive in its invoicing program untouched, with e-Factura XML built and submitted through the ANAF API. That is a custom job, quoted on request. Our AUTOMATE plan (2,997 EUR a month) bundles two custom automations a month with everything below it, and it is a growth service, not a bookkeeping product. Your tax system and what you must report are for your accountant.
- We sell no accounting software and register no one with ANAF
- A sole trader with a few invoices and an accountant who already has a program: use that program, not a custom build
- Invoices created elsewhere that must arrive in the invoicing program: a custom link, quoted on request
- AUTOMATE (2,997 EUR a month) is a growth service, not a bookkeeping product
- Your tax system and what you must report: your accountant decides
The invoice at the end of a longer job
No accounting program is among our eight written-up builds. The nearest thing is the platform we built for ATP Spedition, a business doing courier, moving and freight, with Romania live first and Spain and the wider EU designed in from the start, each market with its own tax and e-invoicing rules; nothing on the market fit without forcing the business to change shape. There invoicing and payment close a chain that starts at a public booking page and passes through quote, dispatch and delivery, and the system runs end to end from booking to payment. That is a different problem from a PFA's. A sole trader with a few invoices and an accountant who has a program has no reason to commission custom software.
See the build: ATP SpeditionQuestions, answered
Does a PFA on norma de venit need accounting software?
ANAF material says that on norma de venit there are no accounting-records obligations, only the income part of the Registrul de evidență fiscală. You still issue invoices and file the single declaration. Your accountant confirms what applies to you.
When does a PFA have to leave norma de venit?
Per ANAF, the move to sistem real is either an option, which binds you for two consecutive fiscal years, or mandatory from the fiscal year after gross annual income exceeds the lei equivalent of 25,000 euro.
Do I have to pick a program before I talk to an accountant?
No. Ask the accountant first which tax system applies to you and which program they already use, then read the vendor's own page.
Does PROOF48 recommend an accounting program?
No. We sell none and named no vendor here, because we did not verify any vendor's claims. Tax decisions are your accountant's.
Is this article tax advice?
No. It summarises a presentation by an ANAF regional directorate dated 22 April 2026 and a European Commission country sheet dated August 2025. Rules change, and your accountant decides.
Where PROOF48 fits
A PFA's first software follows its tax system: on norma de venit, ANAF material says no accounting records are required, so invoicing may be enough, while sistem real brings simple-entry accounting and a bookkeeping program. Your accountant decides the system and the program. PROOF48 sells no accounting software and takes on a custom integration only when invoices are produced in other systems.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.