Payroll software that complies with Romanian law: the 2026 criteria

“Complies with Romanian law” is the claim every payroll software vendor makes. The problem is that, in Romania, payroll legislation changes several times a year — sometimes mid-year, sometimes retroactively. Here is how to check in concrete terms whether a system really does keep up, beyond what its website says.

What “compliant” means, technically

Compliant payroll software has to apply correctly, for each employee:

• CAS 25% (the pension contribution) and CASS 10% (the health contribution), withheld from the gross;
• income tax 10%, applied to the taxable base (gross − CAS − CASS − deductions);
• CAM 2.25%, borne by the employer on top of the gross;
• the percentage-based personal deduction (art. 77 of the Fiscal Code), which depends on the level of the gross and on the number of dependants.

That is the minimum. The difference between good software and mediocre software shows up in the special cases.

The tests that separate the serious systems

When you evaluate a solution, ask it to calculate these situations — they are exactly the ones where errors appear:

1. The minimum wage across two half-years. In 2026, the minimum was 4,050 lei until June and 4,325 lei from 1 July. Compliant software automatically recalculates the payroll runs and the associated tax-exempt amount, without you re-entering anything.
2. Sick leave with rates by duration. The rates are 55% (up to 7 days), 65% (8–14) and 75% (15 and over), set per episode, not per certificate. If the illness extends past a threshold, the benefit is recalculated retroactively for the whole episode.
3. The unpaid first day, once per episode. For certificates issued between February 2026 and December 2027, the first day is not compensated — but it is deducted only once, even if the episode continues through several “continuation” certificates.
4. The employer/FNUASS split. Days 2–6 are borne by the employer, from day 7 by the fund. Software that applies the old rule (the first 5 days) gets the cost wrong.
5. CASS on benefits, by code. It is withheld on codes 01/07/10, but not on maternity (08), child care (09) or maternal risk (15). Swapping these codes changes the amount the employee receives directly.
6. The deduction for 4 or more dependants. The official grid has five columns, and the “4+” column starts at 45% of the minimum wage. Many implementations stop at “3+” and understate the deduction.

If a vendor cannot demonstrate these six cases, “compliant” is only marketing.

The link with accounting: who files the returns

This is an important clarification, and one often overlooked. In Romanian practice, the D112 return is filed from the accounting software (Saga or another certified package), which remains the authoritative source for taxes. Well-built HR/payroll software does not claim to replace accounting — it calculates the payroll and delivers a clean export to the accounting package.

The right question to put to a vendor is not “do you generate the D112?”, but: what format do you export in, and how cleanly does the data land in my accountant’s software? An export in a format the accounting package accepts, with a history of the exports, saves more time than a promise of direct filing.

Compliance beyond the calculation

• REGES-Online — contracts and salary changes have to be reported; the data in the software must be consistent with the register.
• Bonuses reported in REGES must be backed by acte adiționale (addenda to the employment contract), otherwise you end up with “orphan bonuses”.
• GDPR — payroll data is sensitive personal data: encryption, role-based access, defined retention.
• Audit trail — who calculated, who approved, who exported and when.

Warning signs

• It cannot explain where a figure on the payroll comes from (an opaque, unverifiable calculation).
• Legislative updates arrive late or at a separate cost.
• Support answers only in English or in a different time zone.
• It promises to file returns with ANAF without being software certified for that purpose.
• It has no export history — at an inspection you cannot prove what you sent and when.

Frequently asked questions

What does payroll software have to do to be compliant? Apply the rates in force correctly (CAS 25%, CASS 10%, income tax 10%, CAM 2.25%) and the personal deduction, handle the special cases properly (sick leave rates by duration, the first day, the employer/FNUASS split), export cleanly to accounting, and update itself at every legislative change.

How is the net salary calculated from the gross in 2026? CAS 25% and CASS 10% are withheld from the gross; the personal deduction is then subtracted to obtain the taxable base, to which the 10% tax applies. Net = gross − CAS − CASS − tax. You can check this quickly with the calculator at the end of the article.

Can payroll software generate the D112 return? In practice the filing is done from certified accounting software, which remains the authoritative source. HR software calculates the payroll and prepares the bases, which the accountant takes over through an export.

Can payroll be linked to time tracking automatically? Yes, and it is the criterion that saves the most time: overtime, bonuses and absences pass straight from the time records into the payroll calculation, with no re-entry.

See also the gross-to-net calculation in 2026 and the export to SAGA.

How Workly helps

The Workly payroll module is built for Romanian legislation, not adapted from another market: it applies the 2026 rates automatically (CAS, CASS, income tax, CAM), pro-rates the gross from the actual time records, calculates the night-shift bonus from the contract, handles the meal voucher cap and the tax exemption provided by art. 60. It also applies the personal deduction grid in art. 77 — with the “4+ dependants” column, the supplement for young employees and the 100 lei per child in education — only at the main job, broken down on the payslip. The calculation is deterministic: the same inputs always produce the same result, and you can trace where each figure comes from.

We are just as explicit about what it does not do yet: sick leave benefits (rates per episode, the first day, the employer/FNUASS split) and overtime premiums are for now entered as adjustments, not automatically. They are on the roadmap — and until then, software that claims otherwise deserves to be asked exactly what it has implemented.

The calculated payroll is exported in SAGA format, with an export history kept for audit (who, when, what content). The accountant takes the data over and files the returns from the accounting software — Workly does not claim to replace certified accounting software, but it removes the manual work and the errors between time records and payroll. When legislation changes, the rates are updated centrally, and the recalculation happens without re-entry.

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Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not tax advice. Rates and rules may change through legislation — always check the framework in force at the official source (ANAF, the Fiscal Code, the Official Gazette) or consult a specialist.