Do I need a special VAT code to buy ads from Google or Facebook?

A business not registered for VAT that buys electronic services from another EU state needs a special VAT code before the first purchase. It is a separate registration: it does not make you liable for VAT on your sales.

Short answer

Yes. A non-VAT-registered business buying services from a supplier in another EU state must request the special VAT code under art. 317 of the Fiscal Code.
The code must be requested BEFORE the purchase, not after the invoice arrives.
The purchase falls under the reverse charge: VAT is declared and paid in Romania at the 21% standard rate.
You file D301 (the special VAT return) and D390 (the recapitulative statement) by the 25th of the following month.
The special code does not make you a VAT payer: you keep invoicing your own clients without VAT.

What the law says

Art. 317 of the Fiscal Code governs VAT registration for persons making intra-EU acquisitions without being VAT payers.
For electronically supplied services the place of supply is where the customer is, so the VAT is due in Romania.
The customer applies the reverse charge: it self-assesses, declares and pays the VAT, with no deduction right if it is not VAT-registered.
Without a valid code given to the supplier, it invoices with its own country's VAT, which cannot be recovered in Romania.
The art. 317 code is given to the supplier and is verifiable in VIES.

Practical examples

A non-VAT-registered company buys 1,000 lei of Google ads: it declares 210 lei of VAT via D301 and pays it, with no deduction right.
A sole trader subscribing to Irish software has the same obligation as with ads — the service is electronic and supplied where the customer is.
A VAT-registered company needs no art. 317 code: it uses its normal VAT number and declares the purchase in D300 and D390.
A subscription bought from a non-EU supplier is not reported in D390, but the VAT is still due in Romania.

Common mistakes

Buying the ads first and looking for the code after the invoice arrives: the legal timing is before the purchase.
Confusing the art. 317 code with normal art. 316 registration and becoming liable for VAT on sales unnecessarily.
Deducting the self-assessed VAT, although a non-VAT-registered business has no deduction right.
Filing D390 and forgetting D301, or the other way round — both are due, on the same date.
Not giving the code to the supplier, which keeps invoicing with its own country's VAT.

How 4conta helps

4conta recognises intra-EU service invoices on upload and flags them for the reverse charge, with VAT computed at the standard rate. The purchases feed both D301 and D390 on the same deadline, so one cannot be filed without the other.

If the company has no valid code on file with the supplier, the first such invoice raises a warning, before several months of undeclared purchases pile up.