SAF-T in Romania (D406): what it is and who must file

If you own a Romanian SRL, you do not need to master the technical specification. You do need to understand what SAF-T changes: the tax authority now receives your bookkeeping in machine-readable detail, so sloppy or late accounting is far easier for it to detect. This guide explains the practical side in plain English.

SAF-T stands for Standard Audit File for Tax — an internationally used format for handing accounting data to a tax administration in a standardized electronic structure. Instead of asking for your ledgers during an inspection, the authority receives them as recurring data files it can analyze automatically and cross-check against everything else it already knows about your company.

In Romania, the SAF-T submission is declaration D406, filed electronically with ANAF. It sits alongside — it does not replace — your normal tax returns, e-Factura invoices and annual financial statements. Think of it as the data layer underneath all of those: the books themselves, in a format ANAF can read directly.

Romania introduced SAF-T in stages, by taxpayer size: large taxpayers first, then medium, then small. Small taxpayers — which is where most foreign-owned SRLs sit — were included from 2025. At each stage, ANAF allowed a grace period at introduction, so new filers had time to adapt before penalties applied.

The practical consequence at the review date: if you run an active Romanian company, you should assume SAF-T applies to it and confirm the specifics with your accountant. The filing rhythm and detailed requirements depend on your taxpayer category and reporting profile — conditions change often, so we verify each client's obligations rather than working from assumptions.

D406 is broad. Qualitatively, it carries the substance of your accounting records, including:

The exact sections and their frequency depend on your situation — the point to retain is that this is not a summary form. It is your bookkeeping, line by line, in a format built for automated analysis.

Before SAF-T, weak bookkeeping mostly surfaced during an inspection. Now the data reaches ANAF continuously, and mismatches — between your ledgers, your VAT returns, your e-Factura invoices and your annual statements — can be flagged by software. For a company owner, the practical rules are simple:

• —Every transaction needs a document, recorded in the right period — backdated or missing paperwork shows up in the data.
• —Supplier and customer records must be accurate, because they are reported at partner level.
• —Books must reconcile with what is in ANAF's systems, e-Factura included.
• —Fixing errors months later is harder once the erroneous data has already been filed — monthly discipline beats year-end cleanups.

This is one of the strongest arguments for a tidy monthly routine — see our monthly accounting checklistfor what that looks like from the owner's side.

For our clients, D406 is part of the recurring compliance we run — the same rhythm as bookkeeping and tax declarations, described on our SRL accounting service page. We keep the ledgers in SAF-T-compatible software, generate and validate the file, submit it through ANAF's systems, and — most importantly — keep the underlying books consistent with your other filings so the cross-checks come back clean. When we take over a company from another accountant, checking SAF-T readiness is part of the handover review.

The full picture of what a Romanian company must file is in our guide to Romanian SRL accounting requirements.