Business travel legislation in Romania: Overview of responsibilities | Infographic

Delegation is the temporary performance by an employee of work or tasks corresponding to the duties of his or her job outside his or her place of work at the employer’s instructions. 

Delegation may be ordered for a maximum of 60 calendar days in any 12-month period and may be extended for successive periods of up to 60 calendar days only with the employee’s agreement. 

According to the Romanian legislation, the calculation of a business travel’s duration is based on the calendar days starting from the departure date and time until the date and time of the return. Each 24-hour period of the trip is considered as one day of business travel.

For domestic travel in Romania, the number of calendar days on which the person is on secondment shall be calculated from the date and time of departure to the date and time of return of the means of transport from and to the place where he/she has his/her permanent place of work, each 24 hours being considered a day of secondment.

In order to benefit from the tax facilities, the employee must be delegated to a locality more than 5 km from the locality where he or she has his or her permanent place of work and the duration of the secondment is at least 12 hours.   

For delegations abroad, the period for which the daily allowance is granted in foreign currency is determined according to the means of transport used, taking into account:

1. the time of take-off of the aircraft, on departure abroad, and the time of landing of the aircraft, on arrival in the country, from and at airports considered crossing points of the State border of Romania;

2. the moment of crossing Romania’s State border crossing points by train or car, both on departure abroad and on return to the country.

In order to benefit from the tax facilities, for time periods not totaling 24 hours, the daily allowance is granted as follows: 50% up to 12 hours and 100% for the period exceeding 12 hours.

Foreign daily allowances are granted according to the amount establishes by law in the destination country of the business travel, and in this situation the Government’s decision must be verified for Romanian personnel sent abroad for temporary assignments. In the EU, the daily allowance is typically EUR 35 per day, with a fiscal maximum of EUR 87.5 per day and within the limit of 3 base salaries corresponding to the job held. 

The ceiling of 3 basic salaries corresponding to the post held is calculated separately for each month by dividing the 3 salaries by the number of working days in that month and multiplying the result by the number of days corresponding to each month of the period of delegation/detachment/work in another locality, in the country or abroad.

The period for which the foreign daily allowance is granted is determined based on the means of transport used, considering when the employee crosses the border, their train or car crosses the border or when their plane departs or lands.

1. Travel expenses (travel ticket, plane ticket, taxi, public transport ticket);

2. Accommodation expenses;

3. Incidental expenses (phone fee, fax fee, Internet fee, parking fee, highway fee).

If an employee goes on vacation following a business travel and returns to the workplace, the cost of return transportation is not covered and will not be reimbursed.