Romania · Employer of Record · Payroll Services · PEO
You have found the person you want to hire in Romania — now you need a compliant way to employ them. JN Recruitment is the expansion partner that connects international companies with vetted Employer of Record and payroll partners in Romania — plus the employment lawyers, tax advisors, payroll bureaus and accountants a Romanian expansion actually needs — and delivers the boutique recruitment that finds the candidate in the first place.
for an EOR to issue a compliant Romanian employment contract once documents are complete
employer contributions on a Romanian gross salary — the lightest employer burden in the EU
no Romanian SRL required — with an Employer of Record, the partner is the legal employer in Romania
our recommendation is free — the best specialist from our vetted Romanian network, matched to your case
Payroll partner Romania
Romania runs payroll differently from almost everywhere else in Europe — and that difference works in the employer’s favour. Since a 2018 reform, the big social contributions sit on the employee’s side of the payslip: pension (CAS, 25%) and health (CASS, 10%) are deducted from the employee’s gross, while the employer adds only a work-insurance contribution of about 2.25% on top. Add a flat 10% income tax and you get the EU’s most employer-friendly cost structure — but also its most misunderstood one: quote a Romanian gross like a German gross and your offer is 20% off market. And none of it is informal: every contract must be registered in the REVISAL electronic registry before the first day of work.
There are two clean routes into it. If you have (or will build) a Romanian entity, a payroll service provider in Romania runs the monthly payroll, ANAF filings and REVISAL registrations for you. If you have no entity and don’t want one yet, an Employer of Record (EOR) employs your hire legally in Romania while you direct the day-to-day work — what many US companies would call a PEO. The market for both is crowded and opaque; authorisations, service depth and pricing vary enormously. And sooner or later a Romanian expansion also needs an employment lawyer for the contract, a tax advisor for the registrations and an accountant for the books. We vet all of it for you.
JN Recruitment is a boutique recruitment firm headquartered in Mannheim, with offices in Poland and Cyprus — and Romania is covered from our CEE base. Years of placing people in Romania have built us a network of the best employment lawyers, tax advisors, payroll bureaus, accountants and licensed EOR providers in the country. We recommend exactly the specialists your case needs — free of charge, at the partner’s standard rates — and stay your single point of contact. What we deliver ourselves is the headhunting: the sales recruitment agency for Romania that international machinery, industrial-technology and recycling companies already use to enter the market.
What we arrange
Whatever stage your Romania plans are at — first hire without an entity, or a full team on an existing SRL — this is what our vetted Romanian network delivers: EOR providers, payroll bureaus, employment lawyers, tax advisors and accountants, matched and introduced by us:
The partner becomes the legal employer of your hire in Romania — Romanian employment contract, REVISAL registration before day one, payroll with CAS, CASS and income tax withheld — while you manage the work day-to-day. Live within days, no SRL required. The standard route for a first hire in Romania.
For companies with a Romanian entity: a specialised payroll bureau runs the monthly payroll, the unified D112 declaration to ANAF, REVISAL updates, payslips, meal-voucher administration and year-end certificates — no in-house Romanian payroll expertise needed.
Searching for a “PEO Romania”? The US-style PEO doesn’t exist 1:1 under Romanian law — the compliant equivalents are EOR employment or outsourced payroll on your own entity. We translate what you actually need into the right Romanian construct.
Specialised employment lawyers for watertight Romanian contracts and terminations under the Labour Code, tax advisors for ANAF registrations and filings, accountants for the books — the advisory bench every Romanian expansion eventually needs, already vetted and briefed.
Onboarding paperwork, REVISAL hygiene, absence tracking and statutory registrations — plus audits of Romanian PFA and micro-SRL setups: ANAF tests for “dependent activity” and reclassifies disguised employment, and partners convert contractors into compliant employment before that happens.
The part we deliver ourselves: executive search for technical sales and leadership roles in Romania. If you don’t have the candidate yet, we find them — then plug employment and payroll in behind the signed offer.
Market knowledge
Romanian payroll is structurally unlike the rest of the EU — cheap for employers, but full of conventions worth knowing before you sign. The essentials we brief every company on before a Romanian hire:
The employer’s only standard add-on is the work-insurance contribution (CAM) of about 2.25% — pension and health moved to the employee side in 2018. A Romanian gross salary is therefore almost the total employment cost, the lightest employer burden in the EU. Only special or hazardous working conditions add a 4–8% employer pension surcharge.
Employees carry CAS pension (25%) and CASS health (10%) out of gross, then a flat 10% income tax on the remainder. Net pay is roughly 58–60% of gross — so Romanian offers are negotiated in net far more often than Western companies expect. We benchmark both figures so your offer lands as intended.
Romania’s gross minimum wage reached about RON 4,050 per month in 2025 and has been raised almost every year, often with little lead time. Professional salaries sit well above it, but the floor drives contribution minimums and junior packages — a moving part your payroll partner must track for you.
Every employment contract must be registered in REVISAL, the electronic employee registry, at the latest the working day before the employee starts. Undeclared work is fined per person and inspected actively. Combined with probation of up to 90–120 days and resignation notice capped at 20–45 working days, Romanian hiring is fast — but paper-first.
Employer cost benchmarks
Romanian payroll flips the European pattern: the contributions are real, but almost all of them are withheld from the employee’s gross rather than added on top. The current picture — and why gross ≈ total cost in Romania:
| Contribution | Employer pays | Employee pays |
|---|---|---|
| Pension (CAS) | — | 25% |
| Health insurance (CASS) | — | 10% |
| Work insurance contribution (CAM) | ≈2.25% | — |
| Pension surcharge — special/hazardous conditions only | 4–8% | — |
| Personal income tax (flat, withheld via payroll) | — | 10% |
Orientation figures, rounded: CAS and CASS are deducted from the agreed gross salary, income tax applies to the remainder, and the special-conditions surcharge is rare outside heavy industry. Rule of thumb: a RON 200,000 gross salary costs the employer roughly RON 204,500 all-in — while the employee nets about 58–60% of gross. Your payroll or EOR partner’s quote is the binding number.
Yes. An Employer of Record (EOR) employs your candidate in Romania on your behalf: the EOR holds the Romanian employment contract, registers it in REVISAL before day one, runs payroll with CAS, CASS and income tax withheld, and you direct the day-to-day work. No SRL, no Romanian bank account, no registrations on your side. It is the standard route for a first hire in Romania — and with the EU’s lowest employer contributions, the all-in number is usually a pleasant surprise.
The EOR is the legal employer under the Romanian Labour Code. It issues a compliant Romanian employment contract, registers it in REVISAL at the latest the working day before the start date, withholds the employee’s CAS, CASS and flat income tax, pays the employer’s work-insurance contribution, files the unified D112 declaration with ANAF, issues monthly payslips, administers leave, sick pay and meal vouchers, and handles terminations with the correct notice. You remain in charge of the work itself — targets, tasks, tools — and reimburse the EOR for gross salary, the small employer contribution and a service fee.
Typical Romanian EOR pricing is a flat €200–500 per employee per month, or a percentage of gross salary — on top of the salary itself and only about 2.25% employer contributions. Compare that with the alternative: forming and running an SRL means formation, accounting, annual filings and a local payroll setup — rarely worth it below three to five employees. We match you with a partner whose pricing fits your head-count and flag the all-in monthly number before you commit.
Almost nothing — and that is Romania’s genuine oddity. The employer adds only the work-insurance contribution (CAM) of about 2.25%; pension (CAS, 25%) and health (CASS, 10%) are withheld from the employee’s gross, followed by a flat 10% income tax. A RON 200,000 gross salary therefore costs the employer roughly RON 204,500 all-in per year, before any bonus, car or EOR fee. The flip side: employees think in net, because 40%+ of gross never reaches them — so we benchmark Romanian offers in both gross and net.
In the US, a PEO co-employs your staff while you keep your own entity; an EOR employs them fully so you don’t need one. Romanian law has no 1:1 equivalent of the US PEO model — the compliant Romanian constructs are EOR employment through a local provider (no entity needed) or outsourced payroll and HR administration on your own SRL. Providers use both labels loosely, which is precisely why we check what a partner actually delivers before we introduce them.
Yes — through properly structured providers. Where the arrangement qualifies as temporary agency work, Romanian law requires an authorised temporary work agent (agent de muncă temporară), equal-treatment rules apply, and assignments are capped — commonly at 24 months, extendable to around 36 in total. Every contract still passes through REVISAL, so shortcuts are visible to the labour inspectorate. Authorisation and structure are the first things we verify in our partner vetting — and a question you should ask any EOR you talk to.
Yes. If your SRL or branch already exists, a Romanian payroll partner takes over the monthly run: payslips, the unified D112 declaration to ANAF, REVISAL updates for every contract change, meal-voucher administration and year-end certificates — typically priced per payslip per month. The same partners handle the employer registrations if your entity has never employed anyone in Romania before.
Via EOR: the Romanian employment contract and REVISAL registration are typically ready within three to five working days once the candidate’s documents are complete. Romania compounds the advantage on the candidate side: resignation notice is capped at 20 working days for execution roles and 45 for management — so a Romanian hire often starts months earlier than an equivalent hire in Germany or Austria. As recruiters, that timeline is the part we actively manage for you.
Only if they are genuinely independent. Romania’s PFA and micro-SRL constructs were widely used to dodge payroll taxes, and ANAF now applies statutory “dependent activity” criteria: one client, fixed hours, your equipment and your direction mean reclassification as employment, with back-dated contributions and penalties landing largely on you. With employer costs at only ≈2.25%, the savings are marginal and the risk asymmetric — proper employment via EOR or payroll is almost always the better trade. Our partners audit and convert existing setups.
No — and that is deliberate. JN Recruitment is a boutique recruitment firm and your expansion partner for Romania: over years of placing candidates here we have built a vetted network of the best employment lawyers, tax advisors, payroll bureaus, accountants and licensed EOR providers — and we recommend exactly the specialists your case needs. You contract directly with the partner at their standard rates; the recommendation costs you nothing, and we stay your single point of contact. What we deliver ourselves is the search: if the candidate doesn’t exist yet, our Romanian headhunting finds them.
Across Europe
The same specialised technical sales search opens every market on the continent — pick the country you are expanding into.
Hiring in several markets at once?
Hiring at leadership level? Our executive search practice:
Candidate found — and now need a compliant way to employ them?
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Our mission is simple: placements that open new markets.
30-minute intro call
Two quick steps — tell us what you need and how to reach you. Within one business day you get an intro call and, where it fits, a direct introduction to the right specialists from our vetted network.
Your contact person Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment +49 1525 2077583 [email protected] Thank you — we’ll get back to you within one business day to schedule your intro call.
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Before you go
Every month a key sales seat stays empty pushes your expansion plans back — and leaves serious revenue on the table. We fill technical sales positions within weeks, so you hit your expansion targets on schedule.
Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment Free vacancy check · reply within 24 hours
