CASS on dividends Romania 2026: thresholds explained

Two separate charges on the same dividend

A Romanian dividend paid to an individual shareholder attracts two distinct charges, and confusing them is the most common error in this area. The first is the dividend tax — a withholding of % from CNAS January , up from % in , levied by the paying company and remitted to ANAF. The second is CASS, the health contribution (contribuția de asigurări sociale de sănătate) that funds the CNAS health-insurance system, which is not a percentage of the dividend at all. It is a fixed amount tied to a band, and it is the subject of this guide.

The dividend tax is proportional: % of whatever you distribute, no thresholds, no ceilings. CASS is the opposite — it is a stepped, capped charge governed by *Articles and following of the Codul Fiscal*** (Law 227/2015). Once you understand that CASS is a band toll rather than a rate, its counter-intuitive behaviour — where one extra leu of income can cost thousands — stops being surprising. The % side is covered in our note on personal and dividend taxation; this piece is about the CASS side alone, because it deserves the space.

Dividend tax is a percentage. CASS is a toll gate. Treat them as one number and you will mis-plan every distribution.

The three bands

CASS on non-wage income is charged by reference to multiples of the national minimum gross wage. For the pegged wage is RON , — the figure in force on January — and there are three bands:

minimum wages — annual non-wage income of at least RON ,. Base: RON ,. CASS due: RON ,.
minimum wages — annual non-wage income of at least RON ,. Base: RON ,. CASS due: RON ,.
minimum wages — annual non-wage income of at least RON ,. Base: RON ,. CASS due: RON ,.

Below the first band — non-wage income under RON , in the year — no CASS is due at all on that income. Above the top band, the charge stops rising: there is no -salary tier and no -salary tier. The maximum CASS any individual pays on non-wage income in is RON ,, no matter whether the dividend is RON , or RON million. Older material — including, at one point, this site — described a higher tier. It does not exist. The -salary band is the ceiling.

Each band's CASS figure is exactly % of the band floor: % of RON , is RON ,; % of RON , is RON ,; % of RON , is RON ,. That % is where the resemblance to a percentage charge ends — because the % is applied to the band floor, not to your actual income.

The fixed-liability mechanic

This is the genuinely counter-intuitive part, and the reason the piece exists. The CASS liability is fixed per band. It is % of the band floor — not % of your actual income. Cross a threshold by a single leu and you owe the whole band amount, calculated on the floor, regardless of how far above the floor you actually are.

Work it through. A shareholder with RON , of non-wage income owes RON ,. A shareholder with RON , — just short of the second band — also owes RON ,, because they remain in the first band; the base stays at RON ,, not their actual RON ,. Then a shareholder with RON , — one leu more — jumps to the second band and owes RON ,. That single leu costs RON ,.

RON , of dividends → RON , CASS (first band; base RON ,).
RON , of dividends → RON , CASS (second band; base RON ,).
The one-leu difference costs RON ,.

The same cliff sits at the top band. RON , owes RON ,; RON , owes RON , — a one-leu step that costs RON ,. Between the cliffs, the charge is flat: everyone in the second band pays exactly RON , whether their income is RON , or RON ,. The marginal CASS rate is therefore zero across most of each band and infinite at the edges. This is not how any percentage tax behaves, and it is why planning distributions around the thresholds is worth real effort.

Inside a band, another leu of dividend is free of CASS. At the boundary, another leu costs you the entire step up.

What counts towards the bands

The bands are not measured against dividends alone. CASS aggregates all non-wage income the individual receives in the fiscal year. The category (venituri din alte surse and the enumerated investment and independent-activity heads) includes:

Dividends from Romanian and foreign companies.
Interest and other investment income.
Rental income (venituri din chirii).
Capital gains on shares and other assets.
Income from independent activities and PFA where not already within the CASS-on-professional-income regime.

These are summed to test the thresholds. A founder taking RON , of dividends and RON , of rent has RON , of aggregate non-wage income — over the RON , second-band floor — and owes RON ,, even though neither source alone would have reached that band. This aggregation catches people who model each income stream separately, and it is a reason to look at the whole personal picture rather than the dividend in isolation.

Wage income is treated separately — an employee already pays CASS at % on salary through payroll, and that salary does not count towards these non-wage bands. But the founder who pays themselves both a salary and dividends should note that the salary's CASS does not exempt the dividends: the non-wage bands are tested on non-wage income on their own terms. The interaction between the two is the heart of our salary-versus-dividends analysis.

The base is the dividend net of withholding

One refinement matters for the arithmetic. For Romanian-source dividends the amount that counts towards the bands is the dividend net of the % withholding, not the gross declared amount. The company withholds % at distribution; what reaches the shareholder — and what enters the CASS aggregation — is the % net.

This can pull a distribution below a threshold that the gross figure would have crossed. A gross dividend of RON , withholds RON , in tax, leaving RON , net — which sits in the first CASS band, not the second, because it is below RON ,. The gross figure would have suggested the second band; the net figure keeps it in the first, saving RON , of CASS. When you are close to a boundary, compute on the net.

Foreign-source dividends follow the rules of their own withholding and treaty position, but they still aggregate into the same Romanian bands once the individual is Romanian tax-resident. The declarația unică (Form ) is where the individual self-assesses and pays the CASS, filed by May of the following year — so non-wage income is declared and CASS paid by May .

The January pegging quirk

The bands are pegged to the minimum wage in force on January of the fiscal year, under *Article of the Codul Fiscal*. is a year with two minimum wages — RON , from January and RON , from July — but only the January figure governs the bands. The July rise does not move the thresholds; it moves the ** ones.

So the bands, pegged to RON ,, will be higher:

salaries: RON , → CASS RON ,.
salaries: RON , → CASS RON ,.
salaries: RON , → CASS RON ,.

These figures assume the January minimum wage settles at RON ,; if the government sets a different January figure, the bands move again. Treat the numbers as the current best projection, not settled law — but the direction is fixed: a mid-year wage rise always lands in the following year's bands, never the current year's. For anyone straddling a boundary at year-end, this one-year lag is a planning lever, not a footnote.

Worked examples across a range of incomes

Bringing the pieces together, here is the full charge — % dividend tax plus CASS — on a range of gross dividends, assuming the dividend is the individual's only non-wage income and using net figures for the band test.

Gross RON ,: tax RON ,; net RON ,; below the first band, so CASS nil. Total charge RON ,.
Gross RON ,: tax RON ,; net RON ,; first band, CASS RON ,. Total RON ,.
Gross RON ,: tax RON ,; net RON ,; second band, CASS RON ,. Total RON ,.
Gross RON ,: tax RON ,; net RON ,; top band, CASS RON ,. Total RON ,.
Gross RON ,: tax RON ,; net RON ,; top band, CASS still RON , (the ceiling). Total RON ,.

Notice the effective CASS rate collapses as income rises: RON , on a RON ,dividend tax calculator dividend is .%; on a RON ,dividend tax calculator dividend it is .%; on RON million it is dividend tax calculator.%. CASS is regressive by design above the first band, which is why it bites hardest on modest distributions and barely registers on large ones. The dividend tax calculator runs exactly this combined arithmetic — dividend tax plus the correct CASS band — for any figure you enter.

Planning distribution timing across fiscal years

Because CASS resets each fiscal year and is capped, the timing of distributions is a genuine planning lever. The core moves:

Stay inside a band. If a distribution would push aggregate non-wage income one leu past a floor, either hold it back or push it well past — the worst place to land is a single leu over a threshold, paying a full band step for almost no extra income.
Split across years to reset the cap — or bunch to exploit it. Two RON , distributions in consecutive years each sit in the first band, RON , apiece, RON , total. A single RON , distribution in one year sits in the second band at RON , — the same CASS for the same money, but with all the dividend tax pulled into one year. Which is better depends on the tax-rate trajectory, not the CASS alone.
Watch the % cliff-edge from . Dividends distributed on interim financial statements kept the % rate; distributions from the December statements fell into at % under Law 141/2025. For CASS, though, what matters is the year of receipt, so a dividend received in tests against the bands regardless of which year's profit it came from.

The honest caveat: CASS is capped at RON ,, so for large distributions it is a rounding error and the timing question is really a dividend-tax and cash-flow question, not a CASS one. CASS planning earns its keep in the RON ,–, range, where the band cliffs are large relative to the sums involved and a badly-timed leu genuinely costs thousands. Below RON ,, there is nothing to plan — no CASS is due.

For a founder deciding whether to take dividends at all, rather than salary, the CASS bands are only one input. The full extraction question — salary, dividends, or a mix — is worked through in our owner-manager extraction guide, and the microenterprise interaction in our 1% regime guide.

Frequently asked questions

How much CASS do I pay on Romanian dividends in ?

It depends on your total non-wage income for the year, tested against three bands pegged to the RON , minimum wage. Below RON , you pay nothing. From RON , you pay RON ,; from RON ,, RON ,; from RON , and above, RON ,. The RON , is a hard ceiling — there is no higher band.

Is CASS % of my dividend income?

No, and this is the key misunderstanding. CASS is % of the band floor you reach, not % of your actual income. Someone with RON , of dividends pays RON , — % of the first-band floor of RON ,, not % of their income. The liability is fixed per band, so the effective rate falls sharply as income rises within and beyond each band.

Why does one extra leu of dividend sometimes cost thousands?

Because the CASS liability is fixed at the band floor and steps up at each threshold. A shareholder with RON , of non-wage income pays RON ,; at RON , they cross into the second band and pay RON ,. That single leu triggers the full RON , step. The marginal CASS charge is zero inside a band and very large at each boundary.

Does rental income count towards the dividend CASS bands?

Yes. The bands aggregate all non-wage income for the year — dividends, interest, rent, capital gains, and independent-activity income — into a single figure tested against the thresholds. Someone with RON , of dividends and RON , of rent has RON , of aggregate income, lands in the second band, and owes RON ,, even though neither source alone would have reached it.

Do the July minimum-wage rise and the bands interact?

The minimum wage rose to RON , on July , but Article of the Codul Fiscal pegs the CASS bands to the wage in force on January. So the bands stay anchored to RON ,, and the July uplift moves the bands instead — projected at RON , / , / ,. A mid-year rise always lands in the following year’s thresholds.

When and how do I pay CASS on dividends?

Through the declarația unică (Form ), self-assessed and filed with ANAF by May of the following year — so dividends are declared and CASS paid by May . The dividend tax of % is separate: the paying company withholds it at distribution. CASS is the shareholder’s own filing obligation, tested on non-wage income net of that withholding.

Talk to us

The CASS bands reward getting the arithmetic right and punish getting it wrong by a single leu. We model your aggregate non-wage income, position distributions around the thresholds, and file the declarația unică so the band you land in is the one you chose. Fees are set out at /pricing/; to have your distributions modelled before year-end, write to us at /contact/.

Related guides

Salary versus dividends for a Romanian owner-manager — where the CASS bands change the extraction answer
Personal tax and the 16% dividend rate for 2026 — the withholding that sits alongside CASS
The 1% microenterprise regime in Romania — the company regime most Romanian dividends are distributed from
What it costs to employ someone in Romania in 2026 — the minimum wage that pegs these bands, on the payroll side
Romanian SRL formation: the complete 2026 guide — the vehicle behind the distribution

CASS on dividends in Romania: the 2026 thresholds explained