- The draft law on fiscalization was opened for public consultation in August 2019. The final text was adopted as Law No. 87/2019, dated December 18, 2019, “On the invoice and the monitoring system of turnover.”.
- The deadlines proposed in the initial consultation (January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021) were changed in the final version of the law.
- The actual implementation was carried out in phases during 2021: January 1 for public entities, July 1 for businesses, and September 1 for cash payments to consumers.
- Taxation has not remained static since 2021; its rules are updated almost every year with the fiscal package.
On August 2, 2019, the Ministry of Finance and Economy put the draft law “On the Invoice and Monitoring of Transactions,” later known as the fiscalization law, out for public consultation. The draft provided that, as of January 1, 2020, business-to-consumer transactions would be reported in real time, and as of January 1, 2021, business-to-business and business-to-public-sector transactions would switch to electronic invoicing. The final text, adopted as Law No. 87/2019 of December 18, 2019, changed these deadlines.
From our daily work, we still see businesses that, when they look up old information online about fiscalization, come across notices like this one from 2019 and get confused about what's still a “project” and what has been a mandatory rule in effect for years.
Read also: Taxation and invoicing, our complete guide and the Electronic invoice, how it works today.
From the draft to the law, what changed?
Proposed deadlines versus actual implementation
The August 2019 consultation proposed real-time reporting from January 1, 2020, and business-to-business electronic invoicing from January 1, 2021. These were proposed deadlines, not law. The version adopted four months later, Law No. 87/2019, postponed and split these deadlines differently, as often happens during the legislative process following a public consultation.
The real phases of implementation, 2021
The true implementation of fiscalization came in three phases during 2021, with public entities from January 1, with business-to-business transactions from July 1, and with cash payments to consumers from September 1. These are the dates businesses need to remember, not the ones initially proposed in the consultation.
Every time there is a tax or financial change that affects your business, we notify you directly by email with a practical explanation.
Send me free notificationsWhy it Matters
Taxation today is not static.
Since their full entry into force in 2021, the fiscalization rules continue to be updated almost every year, through guidelines and the annual fiscal package. A business that relies on the information from the initial implementation year, without following the updates, risks being unaware of specific changes that directly affect it.
How we handle this with our clients
We track every annual change in fiscalization rules and specifically inform our clients when something is affected, rather than leaving them to rely on outdated information they happen to find online.
Frequently asked questions
Is the fiscalization “draft law” still pending?
No. The August 2019 draft law was adopted as Law No. 87/2019 and has been in full effect since 2021. Any reference to it as a “draft” today is outdated.
Where can I find today's fiscalization rules?
In our complete guide on fiscalization and invoicing, linked above, which is updated with every change. This article is preserved only as historical context for the law's origin.
Has taxation changed since 2021?
Yes, sometimes through implementing guidelines and annual tax packages. We recommend verifying every specific detail (deadlines, amounts, documents) with our updated guide or directly with the official source, rather than relying on a notice from a particular year.
