Is property sale tax changing? What forms 208 and 209 actually are

• 3% / 1% - sale tax rates in 2026, unchanged: 3% if you have owned the property for up to and including 3 years, 1% for over 3 years (Tax Code art. 111)
• max(price, grid) - calculation basis: the value declared in the contract, but no less than the minimum value in the chambers of notaries' market study (Article 111(4^1) of the Tax Code)
• 27 July - deadline for notaries to file Form 208 for the first half of the year; this is the notary's long-standing, half-yearly obligation (Article 113 of the Tax Code, Order 1022/2562/2016)
• 10 days - deadline for you to file Form 209, only if the transfer takes place outside notarial or court proceedings (Tax Code art. 111)

1. In brief: no, the tax is not changing

For the ordinary individual seller, nothing changes in 2026. Property transfer tax remains as set out in Article 111 of the Tax Code: 3% of the value if you have owned the property for up to and including 3 years, and 1% if you have owned it for more than 3 years. The calculation basis also remains the same: the value declared by the parties in the contract, but no less than the minimum value in the chambers of notaries' market study, known as the notarial valuation grid. The 450,000 lei tax-free allowance has not existed since 2023.

For a sale through a notary, the mechanism is also unchanged: the notary calculates the tax, withholds it from the price at authentication and pays it to the state. You do not file any return with ANAF for the sale itself.

References: Article 111 of the Tax Code (3%/1% rates, calculation basis, paragraph (4^1) for the minimum value in the chambers of notaries' market study); OG 16/2022 (abolition of the 450,000 lei allowance from 1 January 2023). For your specific situation, confirm the calculation with the notary.

2. What Form 208 is: the notary's return, not yours

Form 208, “Information return on tax on income from transfers of personally owned real estate”, is filed by notaries public, not sellers. It has existed for years under Article 113 of the Tax Code and Joint ANAF/Ministerul Justiției Order 1022/2562/2016, and covers transfers authenticated by the notary in the preceding half-year, with the tax withheld for each.

• Who files it: the notary public, for all transfer deeds they have authenticated.
• How often: half-yearly. For the first half of the year, the deadline is 27 July; for the second half, it is in January, by the last working day of the month.
• What it contains: the parties, property, transaction value and tax withheld, information the notary already holds from the authenticated deed.
• What you do as a seller: nothing. Your tax was already withheld at signing, and reporting is the notary's obligation.

In other words: yes, your sale enters ANAF's records, but in exactly the same way it did five years ago. There is no new obligation and no additional trip to the counter for you.

References: Article 113 of the Tax Code (notaries' reporting obligation); Joint Order 1022/2562/2016 (forms 208/209 and filing deadlines).

3. What Form 209 is: only transfers without a notary

Form 209 is the less common counterpart to 208: it is filed by the individual, but only when the transfer of ownership does NOT go through either a notary or a court. In practice, such situations are the exception, not the rule. In this case, you must declare the income to the tax authority within a maximum of 10 days of the transfer, and ANAF establishes the tax through a tax assessment notice.

• Ordinary sale before a notary: you file nothing; the tax is withheld at authentication and reported by the notary on 208.
• Transfer by court judgment (for example, a judgment taking the place of a contract): you do not file 209 here either; the court sends the final judgment to the tax authority, which issues the tax assessment notice.
• Transfer outside notarial or court proceedings: you file Form 209 within 10 days of the transfer.

References: Article 111 of the Tax Code (declaration within 10 days for transfers through a procedure other than notarial or court proceedings; courts' communication of final judgments to the tax authority); Joint Order 1022/2562/2016.

4. Where the confusion comes from: the wave of press coverage in July and January

The confusion follows a predictable calendar. Form 208 is filed half-yearly, so twice a year there is an “ANAF deadline” linked to property sales. In early July 2026, several publications revisited the subject with headlines such as “property transactions enter ANAF records from July”, although the obligation is long-standing and the 27 July deadline concerns notaries, not sellers. The same wave repeats in January, at the deadline for the second half of the year.

The mechanism is familiar: a routine administrative deadline, presented without context, becomes news of an alleged change. The simple test is to ask: has any rate, calculation basis or seller obligation changed? For 2026, the answer to all three is no.

5. How sale tax is correctly calculated

The calculation has three steps, all unchanged in 2026:

• Establish the basis: the value declared in the contract, but no less than the minimum value in the notarial valuation grid. In practice: max(declared price, grid value).
• Establish the rate: 3% if you have owned the property for up to and including 3 years, 1% if you have owned it for more than 3 years, measured from the acquisition date to the sale date.
• Apply the rate to the basis: the tax is withheld by the notary at authentication, so in practice you see it deducted from the amount you receive.

Example: you sell a flat owned for 2 years for 90,000 euros, while its notarial valuation grid value is 100,000 euros. The calculation basis is 100,000 (the grid value, because it is higher than the price), and the tax is 3%, or 3,000 euros in lei equivalent. That is why the grid value is worth knowing before accepting a price: it determines the minimum taxable basis.

Special cases (inherited property, gifts, usufruct or bare ownership, agricultural land outside the built-up area resold quickly) have their own rules, explained on the sale tax calculator page. This guide is for information only and does not replace tax or legal advice; for your exact situation, ask the notary before signing.

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