Form 230, sponsorship and donations: the complete guide to supporting an NGO in Romania in 2026

1. Form 230: what it is and who can use it

Form 230 is the request through which an individual directs up to 3.5% of their annual income tax to a nonprofit entity (association, foundation), a religious unit or private scholarships. It is governed by the Romanian Fiscal Code and approved, in its current form, by Order of the President of ANAF (the Romanian tax authority) no. 103/2025.

It can be used by people who earned, in the previous year, income from salaries and similar income, from pensions, and from certain independent activities and intellectual property rights for which tax is withheld at source. If you have income for which you file the single tax return (declarația unică), the 3.5% option is expressed directly in that return, not through Form 230.

The essential thing to understand: the 3.5% is not extra money you pay. It is part of the tax your employer or pension fund has already withheld and transferred to the state. If you do not fill in the form, the amount stays entirely in the state budget. If you do, the state transfers that share to the organisation you chose. Your net income does not change by a single leu.

2. The deadline: 25 May, for the previous year's income

Form 230 is filed by 25 May inclusive of the year following the one in which the income was earned. For 2025 income, the deadline is 25 May 2026. When 25 May falls on a non-working day, the deadline moves to the next working day, as happened in 2025, when it was 26 May.

If you send the form to the association rather than directly to ANAF, leave a few days of margin. At Origio EDUNOVA we recommend it reaches us by 20 May, so that we have time to check it and file it. A form filed after the deadline has no effect for that year.

3. The two-year option: fill it in once, valid twice

The current form has a dedicated box: the option to distribute the amount for a period of two years. If you tick it, the redirection to the same organisation applies automatically to the following year's income too, without a new form. It is the simplest route for anyone who already knows they want to support a cause for longer.

During the two years the option cannot be changed for the same entity. After it expires, you fill in the form again, with or without the two-year box. If you want to change the organisation, you can file a new form at any time for the next fiscal year.

4. How to fill in and file Form 230, step by step

You need very little data: your name, your personal numeric code (CNP), your address, a contact phone or email, and the organisation's details: exact name, tax identification code (CIF) and IBAN. For the Origio EDUNOVA Association, these details are published on the Support page and in the site footer. You do not need a copy of your ID card and you do not fill in the amount: ANAF calculates it.

The fastest route is the online form, directly on the association's website: you fill in the fields, sign on screen, and the form reaches the association, which files it with ANAF. It takes two minutes and involves no printing or scanning. The second route is the PDF: download it, fill it in on your computer or by hand, sign it (by hand or with an electronic signature) and send it to the association by email or post.

The third route is filing it yourself: at the registry of your local tax office, by post with acknowledgement of receipt, or online through the Virtual Private Space (SPV) if you have an account. For SPV there is a dedicated version of the form, available on our site. Whichever channel you use, keep a copy and, if you filed through SPV, the receipt.

5. Common mistakes with Form 230

The most frequent reasons a form has no effect: a missing signature, a wrong or incomplete CNP, the organisation's name written differently from the ANAF register, a wrong IBAN, filing after 25 May, or filing by a person who had no taxable income that year. All of them can be checked in two minutes before sending.

Another frequent misunderstanding: people think they must choose between Form 230 and a donation. They do not. Form 230 costs you nothing, and a donation is a separate gesture. You can do both.

6. Sponsorship: the tax benefit for companies, up to date

Sponsorship is governed by Romanian Law no. 32/1994 and is always based on a written contract between sponsor and beneficiary. For companies paying corporate income tax, the Fiscal Code allows the sponsored amount to be subtracted directly from the corporate income tax owed, within two ceilings: 0.75% of turnover and 20% of the corporate income tax. The lower ceiling applies. Concretely, a company with corporate income tax of RON 100,000 can direct up to RON 20,000, as long as that does not exceed 0.75% of its turnover.

What changed on 1 January 2024, through Government Emergency Ordinance no. 115/2023: amounts above the ceiling no longer carry forward to later years, as they used to (the 7-year carry-forward remains valid only for sponsorships made up to the end of 2023). Instead, if the company did not use the full ceiling during the year, it can direct the difference through Form 177, a request addressed to ANAF, by the filing deadline of the annual corporate income tax return (usually 25 June of the following year).

Also since 2024, micro-enterprises (the Romanian tax regime for small companies taxed on revenue) can no longer subtract sponsorships from their tax. Articles that still mention "20% of the micro tax" and "carry-forward over 8 quarters" describe a repealed rule. A micro-enterprise can still sponsor, but as an ordinary expense, without a tax benefit. If the company switches to corporate income tax (for example because it exceeds the revenue threshold), the facility applies again.

What the sponsor receives, beyond the tax benefit: the sponsorship contract, the invoice or supporting document, an impact report with measured figures (beneficiaries, institutions, feedback) and visibility as a partner. Sponsorship can also be in kind (materials, services), not only in money, valued at market value.

7. Direct donation: the simplest option

A donation is a bank transfer to the organisation's account, with the reference "donation". It requires no contract, although one can be signed on request, and has no ceiling. For individuals, donations do not bring a tax deduction in Romania; the only tax mechanism for individuals is Form 230. For companies, a donation (unlike a sponsorship) does not benefit from the tax credit, which is why we recommend the sponsorship contract to companies.

At Origio EDUNOVA, every donation goes directly into the next workshop: materials for a class, travel to rural communities, the fees of invited doctors and specialists. We have no office or administrative staff costs, and our impact figures are published every year.

8. How to choose an organisation to support

Three quick checks say almost everything: whether the organisation publishes an activity report with concrete figures, whether it has complete legal details (tax ID, registration number, address) and whether it explains where the money goes. An association with 29 workshops delivered, 636 pupils and students involved and 7 signed partnership agreements, with feedback measured on 300 questionnaires (97.7% of participants recommend the workshop, average score 4.6 out of 5), can show you exactly what it did with every leu. Ask for these figures from anyone who asks for your support.

If you want to support financial education, soft skills and health education for young people, all three options are on the Support page of our site: Form 230 online, bank details for donations and the offer for companies. And if you have a question this guide did not answer, write to us: we reply within 48 hours.