e-Invoicing in 2026: what every company should know

Who is required in 2026

In 2026, electronic invoicing through the RO e-Factura system is mandatory for all companies, in both B2B relationships (business to business) and B2C ones (to individuals). In practice, every invoice issued by a Romanian company passes through ANAF's Private Virtual Space (SPV).

There is no longer a category of taxpayers exempt by size or by field of activity. If you issue invoices, you send them electronically. This across-the-board rule changes the workflow: issuing and sending become a single step rather than two separate activities.

For companies that until now worked with paper invoices or PDFs sent by e-mail, the main change is not the technology but the rhythm: the document becomes official only once it reaches the SPV, and an invoice is no longer considered delivered just because it left your outbox.

The format: UBL 2.1 in the CIUS-RO profile

The invoice is sent as a structured XML file, following the European UBL 2.1 standard in the national CIUS-RO profile. It is not simply an attached PDF. The XML holds all mandatory fields (the parties, the lines, the VAT rates, the totals) and is validated against ANAF's business rules before it is accepted.

A PDF remains useful for human reading, but the document with fiscal value is the XML file in the SPV. That is why structural correctness matters more than the visual look of the invoice.

The sending deadline

The invoice must be sent to the SPV within five working days of the issue date. This is a short, recurring deadline, not an end-of-month obligation. The safest approach is to send right after issuing, so that no invoice is left untransmitted.

Missing the deadline carries penalties, so it is worth building the sending step directly into the invoicing routine.

Received invoices and document types

Received invoices are downloaded from the SPV. The package contains both the XML file and a PDF rendering, which you can archive and record in the books from the same place.

Accepted document type codes include 380 for the standard invoice and 381 for a credit note (storno). Using the correct code is essential so the document is processed and matched correctly by the system.

Reconciling invoices received from the SPV with the accounting records is the step that closes the loop: every downloaded document should be found in the journal, with the same amount and the same VAT rate. Done monthly, this check prevents the discrepancies that otherwise surface only at the return.

Validation before sending

Most rejections come from structural errors or broken business rules, things that can be checked before sending. An invoice validated locally goes out correctly the first time and does not hold up collection.

Clarito validates the invoice locally, before sending it to the SPV, so the file is accepted without round trips.