Which registers must a Romanian sole trader (PFA) keep in 2026?
A Romanian sole trader on single-entry bookkeeping has three mandatory registers, not one. The third — the fiscal record register — is the one most often missing at an ANAF audit, because it is not listed in the order that governs the other two.
Short answer
- A sole trader on the real-income system keeps three registers: the journal of receipts and payments, the inventory register and the fiscal record register.
- The first two are governed by Order 170/2015, the third by art. 68 para. (8) of the Fiscal Code.
- The registers may be kept on paper or electronically, with no obligation to register them with ANAF.
- Sole traders taxed on an income norm do not keep the cash journal, but must still keep the fiscal record register if they are VAT-registered.
- Supporting documents and registers are archived for 5 years, not 10.
What the law says
- The journal of receipts and payments and the inventory register are set out in Order 170/2015 on single-entry bookkeeping.
- The fiscal record register is a separate obligation, from art. 68 para. (8) of the Fiscal Code, and is not the same as the cash journal.
- Law 82/1991 lets a sole trader keep single-entry books alone — no chartered accountant is required.
- Entries are made chronologically from supporting documents, with monthly and annual totals.
- A VAT-registered sole trader also keeps the sales and purchase ledgers required by VAT law.
What each register contains
The three mandatory registers of a sole trader on the real-income system
| Register | What goes in it | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Journal of receipts and payments | Every amount received and paid, in chronological order, with the date and supporting document | Order 170/2015 |
| Inventory register | The assets and values of the business, counted at the end of the financial year | Order 170/2015 |
| Fiscal record register | Gross income, deductible expenses and annual net income — the basis for the single tax return | Fiscal Code, art. 68 para. (8) |
Practical examples
- An IT sole trader invoicing one client monthly records each receipt in the cash journal on the date the account was credited, not the invoice date.
- A sole trader buying a 6,000 lei laptop enters it in the inventory register and deducts it through depreciation, not in full in the month of purchase.
- A sole trader with 180,000 lei of income and 40,000 lei of deductible expenses records 140,000 lei of net income in the fiscal register, which becomes the base for social contributions.
Common mistakes
- Only the cash journal is kept and the fiscal record register is missing — the most frequent gap found at sole-trader audits.
- Income is booked on the invoice date instead of the collection date: single-entry bookkeeping runs on actual cash movements.
- Expenses are deducted without a supporting document in the sole trader's name, and are disallowed in full at an audit.
- The personal and business accounts are mixed, which makes the cash journal impossible to reconstruct.
How 4conta helps
4conta generates all three registers automatically from the documents you upload: each receipt and payment lands in the cash journal on the date of the bank transaction, assets above the depreciation threshold go to the inventory register, and net income is computed in the fiscal record register as the year progresses.
The registers can be exported in printable form for an ANAF audit, and the net income figure feeds straight into the single tax return, with no manual recalculation.