CASS 10% guide for 2026: withholding at source from gross pay, the categories newly liable after the 2025 reform, the end of co-insured status and the rule for pensioners.
Translated from Romanian. This article covers Romanian labour and tax law; the Romanian version is canonical and is updated first.
CASS (contribuția de asigurări sociale de sănătate — the health insurance contribution) is the 10% rate that provides access to the public health system. For employees things look simple — it is withheld from the gross and that is that. The 2025 reform, however, changed who else owes CASS and how it is declared, and the effects carry into 2026. Here is what an employer and an HR officer need to know.
For employees, CASS is 10% of gross income and is withheld at source by the employer, who pays it over to the state. The employee does nothing — the contribution already appears as a deduction on the payslip, alongside CAS (the pension contribution) and income tax. This is the situation of most taxpayers and it has not changed.
What the 2025 reform did change is the range of persons liable to CASS outside an employment relationship.
The reform extended the obligation to pay CASS to categories that were previously insured without contributing. Among them:
The underlying idea: the right to be insured is tied more closely to an actual, individual contribution. Many of these categories now pay CASS where previously they were covered automatically.
One of the most important changes is the removal of co-insured (coasigurat) status in its broad form. Previously, family members without income (spouse, parents) could benefit from health insurance on the basis of a relative’s insurance. The reform drastically narrowed this possibility: instead of derived cover, the person must as a rule pay their own CASS individually, through the single tax return (declarația unică) filed with ANAF (the Romanian tax authority).
In practice, anyone who no longer has a title to insurance (salary, pension above the threshold, etc.) has to manage their own insured status, rather than through a relative’s employer.
For pensioners the rule is special and temporary: CASS applies only to the part of the pension exceeding 3,000 lei per month, withheld at source directly by the pension houses. Below that threshold, the pension is unaffected by CASS. The measure is temporary — it applies to pension income for the period 1 August 2025 – 31 December 2027 — and must be checked at the date of payment, because it may be extended or amended (the measure is also the subject of challenges before the Constitutional Court).
The key distinction for compliance is who calculates and pays over CASS:
Certain categories remain exempt from CASS even after the reform — for example oncology patients, chronically ill people included in CNAS national health programmes, and people with disabilities under the conditions set by law. The exemption is not automatic for any diagnosis; it applies on the basis of the legal classification and supporting documents. Every case must be checked against the health legislation in force.
On the payslip, CASS appears as a separate withholding line, at 10% of gross, immediately after CAS and before the tax calculation. On benefits (for example ordinary sick leave) CASS is also withheld at 10%, but with exceptions per benefit code — a subject covered separately.
The CASS reform multiplied the situations in which the rate applies or is disapplied — exactly the kind of complexity that produces manual errors. The Workly payroll module automatically applies the correct CASS withholding for each type of income and benefit, respects the exceptions per category and prepares the bases for Declarația 112 (the monthly return) in the SAGA-format export. The calculation is deterministic, so it removes the risk of withholding CASS where it is not due or omitting it where it is mandatory.
Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not tax or legal advice. The rules on CASS have changed recently and include temporary elements — always check the framework in force at source (ANAF, CNAS, the Fiscal Code, Monitorul Oficial) or consult a specialist before taking a decision.
Payslip guide: the employer's duty to inform, what elements it contains, how to read it line by line, electronic delivery and confidentiality.
Personal deduction guide: the percentage system in art. 77 of the Fiscal Code, the 20–45% grid by dependants, the cancellation threshold and the main-job declaration.
Guide to the payroll register: its role as a supporting document, mandatory content, signing and confidentiality, the archiving term and the link to the payslip.
We'll show you how time tracking, payroll and the rest of the modules work for your company, in a short demo.
Request a demo