The 1974 France-Romania tax treaty, article by article

The convention between France and Romania was signed in Bucharest on September 27, 1974, and has been in force since September 27, 1975. The official list classifies it as a tax on income and wealth. It sets a single ceiling of 10,130 rupees for dividends, interest, and royalties. For salaried employees, it does not use the usual 183 days; its rule is eighteen months over three consecutive years. This page presents the articles we have read in the official text and explains what it does not cover.

A text from 1974 that the MLI modified in 2023 and 2024

The BOFiP (Official Bulletin of Public Finances) gives the signature in Bucharest on September 27, 1974, law no. 75-584 of July 5, 1975 and decree no. 75-962 of October 9, 1975. The entry into force dates from September 27, 1975. The list of conventions (BOI-ANNX-000306, version of April 29, 2026) bears the line "C September 27, 1974 (JO of October 21, 1975)", classified "IR - IF", without mention of inheritance or donation.

The BOFiP (Official Bulletin of Public Finances) dedicated to Romania dates from 2012 and makes no mention of any amendments or the multilateral tax treaty (MLI). However, the list of treaties modified by the MLI (BOI-ANNX-000511, April 29, 2026) includes Romania: effective date in France is January 1, 2024 for taxes withheld at source, and October 5, 2023 for other taxes. A consolidated version is available on impots.gouv.fr. Its note gives, for Romania, an application from 1 January 2024 for withholding taxes and, for other taxes, to tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024. It adds a preamble and a principal purpose clause: an advantage is not granted if obtaining it was one of the principal purposes of an arrangement, unless it is established that granting this advantage in these circumstances would be consistent with the object and purpose of the convention.

Taxes concerned: income and wealth (unspecified)

Article 2, paragraph 1, applies to income and wealth taxes. However, the French list in Article 2, paragraph 3, only mentions income tax and corporation tax. Article 23 addresses wealth, but this page does not resolve the application of the convention to the French wealth tax (IFI).

Who is a resident: a distinction that begins with the household

Article 4, paragraph 1, determines whether a person is liable for tax in a given State based on their domicile, residence, registered office, place of management, or any similar criterion. If an individual is resident in both States, paragraph 2 applies its criteria in this order: permanent home, then center of vital interests, habitual residence, nationality, and finally, the agreement of the competent authorities. The French criteria are detailed on our page about the three criteria of Article 4B.

Maximum deductions and key rules

Dividends, interest, royalties: the same 10% cap.

The extracts read only stipulate a single rate: the ceiling is 10% of the gross amount for dividends, the amount of interest for interest payments, and the amount of royalties for royalties, provided that the recipient is the beneficial owner. Therefore, on a dividend of €20,000 paid by a Romanian company to a resident of France, the Romanian withholding tax cannot exceed €2,000. According to Article 11 § 3, interest paid under loans "guaranteed, insured, or financed directly or indirectly" by a Contracting State or a public body of that State is exempt in the State from which it originates.

Article 10, paragraph 5, deals with withholding tax: when it is levied on dividends paid by a company resident in France to a resident of Romania, the latter may request a refund, less the tax withheld at source. We quote this text without asserting that this mechanism still exists under domestic law.

Capital gains: real estate assets without a reference period

Article 13, paragraph 1, classifies the sale of shares in real estate co-ownership companies and companies whose assets consist primarily of real estate as capital gains taxable in the State where the property is located. The excerpt provided does not specify a percentage threshold or a reference period. Gains on the assets of a permanent establishment or fixed base are taxable in the other State (paragraph 2). All other gains are taxable only in the State of residence of the transferor (paragraph 3).

Employees: eighteen months over three years, not 183 days

Article 15, paragraph 1, assigns tax liability to the State of residence, unless the employment is exercised in the other State. Paragraph 2 provides an exception, subject to three conditions: the recipient must reside in the other State for a period or periods not exceeding in total eighteen months during any three consecutive years; the remuneration must be paid by, or on behalf of, a person who is not a resident of the other State; and the expense must not be borne by a permanent establishment or fixed base that the recipient has there. The 183-day rule is addressed elsewhere in the Convention, in Article 20, for students and trainees.

Three missions to Romania over three years: a numerical example (fictitious profile)

Situation. A French resident employee, a fictitious profile, employed by a French company, carries out missions in Romania: 8 months, 6 months then 3 months, over three consecutive years.

Issue. He wonders which state can tax his salary for periods worked in Romania. He is aware of the 183-day rule and believes that only the number of days worked per year matters.

Strategy. He calculates his months over any period of three consecutive years, as required by Article 15 § 2 a), and then has the employer's and permanent establishment's conditions examined. The text read does not specify how to count a partial month: it considers whole months.

Result. His assignments total 17 months: the 18-month threshold is not exceeded, with a one-month margin. An additional two-month assignment would bring the total to 19 months, one month more than the threshold. This is not sufficient to reach a conclusion: the two other conditions remain to be examined. The durations are hypothetical.

Pensions, other income, wealth

Article 18, paragraph 1, reserves pensions, including social security pensions, for the beneficiary's state of residence. Public pensions are addressed in paragraph 2, which we will not detail here. Article 22 allocates income not specifically mentioned to the state of residence alone. Article 23 distributes assets: real estate to the state where it is located, and other assets to the state of residence; it contains other provisions that are not detailed on this page.

Double taxation: exemption for most items, tax credit for five items

Article 24, paragraph 2(a), exempts from French tax income from Romanian sources other than that specified in paragraph (b). For income covered by Articles 10, 11, 12, 16, and 17 that has been subject to Romanian tax, France grants a tax credit equal to the tax levied in Romania, capped at the French tax levied on that income. Paragraph (c) specifies that French tax may be calculated on income taxable in France under the convention at the rate corresponding to the total taxable income under French law. Romania deducts the French tax from its own tax liability, up to the amount of Romanian tax levied.

Disputes and information exchange

In the version consolidated by the MLI, Article 26 requires that the case be submitted within three years of the first notification of the measure; the 1974 text did not specify a time limit (Article 26, paragraph 1), and paragraph 2 of that text makes the agreement applicable regardless of the time limits stipulated by national legislation. These two texts represent two distinct versions of the convention. According to Article 27, paragraph 1, the information received is to be kept confidential.

What this page does not cover

The application to the IFI, articles 5 to 9, 14, 17, 19 to 21, 25 and 28 to 31, the possible protocol (the texts read do not contain one, which we do not consider established), the Romanian internal tax regime, and inheritances and donations, which the administrative list does not mention for Romania.

What changes depending on your situation

• Your residence as defined in Article 4.
• The nature of the income: dividend, interest, royalty, salary, pension, gain.
• The total number of months you spent in Romania over three consecutive years.
• The composition of the assets of a company in which you hold shares.
• The effects of MLI on your situation.

An article should be read in light of the facts of your case. No outcome is guaranteed. For Romania, have local law verified by a professional on site.