When do you graduate from an EOR to your own Romania entity?

The calculation below uses EUR 550 as the illustrative EUR equivalent of the Teamed fee. This is illustrative, not a fixed EUR price. The actual EUR amount depends on the exchange rate at the time of invoice. Teamed charges from $599 USD with zero FX mark-up.

All entity cost figures in this table are typical ranges. They cover outsourced payroll, bookkeeping, statutory filings, and HR admin for a small Romanian SRL. They are illustrative, not law figures. Actual costs vary with the complexity of your setup and any benefits programme you run.

Romania's employer social cost is unusually low. Employer CAM is 2.25%. There is no employer pension contribution on top. Employees pay CAS (25%) and CASS (10%) on their own side. This means the entity running-cost advantage is driven mainly by the admin overhead gap, not by social contribution savings. The crossover shifts later than in higher-cost EU countries.

At higher salaries the crossover comes slightly earlier. At lower salaries it shifts toward 10 employees or beyond. Run the Crossover Calculator with your own headcount and salary band.

1. Calculate the EOR cost

   Multiply the Teamed fee (from $599 USD) by your planned Romania headcount. This is the fixed variable cost. It grows linearly as you hire.

2. Estimate the entity fixed overhead

   Typically EUR 1,800 to 3,200 per month for a small Romanian SRL. This covers payroll bureau, bookkeeping, ANAF filings, Revisal admin, and first-point HR. This cost does not grow much until headcount exceeds 15.

3. Find the crossover headcount

   The crossover is where EOR monthly cost equals entity monthly overhead. For most Romania tech salary bands this is around 6 to 10 employees. Use the Crossover Calculator for your own numbers.

4. Factor in non-financial triggers

   The maths gives you a headcount threshold. Local client contracting requirements, tax-treaty substance needs, and market-validation reversibility are separate questions that may override the cost crossover in either direction.

5. Plan the graduation date

   Allow 4 to 6 weeks for entity formation before the first payroll on your own entity. Factor in Revisal and ANAF registration steps. Start the GEMO process while EOR continues running.

These are typical ranges. They are not law figures. There is no law that sets what a Romanian SRL costs to form. The range reflects real market rates for professional services. It varies with share structure complexity and how much you outsource.

The Revisal registration requirement

Every Romanian employer must register all employment contracts in the Revisal electronic registry, operated by the Territorial Labour Inspectorate (ITM), before the employee starts work. This is not optional. Failure to register on time carries per-employee fines. For a foreign-owned SRL setting up payroll for the first time, the Revisal registration adds a practical step that prolongs the timeline to first payroll.

These figures are typical market ranges for a small Romanian SRL with 1 to 15 employees. They are illustrative. They are not law figures. Actual costs depend on whether you outsource or hire in-house, and the complexity of your payroll and benefits programme.

Above 15 employees, dedicated Romania HR capacity and an in-house finance function typically become necessary. The cost band widens at that point.

Most cost comparisons omit the director-liability dimension because it is hard to put a number on. It is worth naming explicitly before you decide.

Personal director duties under Romanian company law

Under Law 31/1990 on companies, SRL directors must act in the company's interest, avoid conflicts of interest, keep accurate books, and ensure timely ANAF registration and filings. A director who fails to notify the Trade Register (ORC) of share changes within the required window is personally liable. Criminal liability attaches to directors for false statements in official filings.

The Romanian compliance treadmill

• ANAF monthly declarations: due by the 25th of the following month for payroll tax, CAM, CAS, and CASS. Late payment attracts daily interest and a fixed penalty per filing.
• Annual financial statements: filed with the Trade Register within 150 days of year-end for SRLs. Late filing carries fines escalating with delay.
• VAT returns: monthly or quarterly depending on turnover. Late submission or payment attracts penalties and interest.
• ORC annual confirmations: annual data updates filed with the Trade Register. Directors sign these personally.
• Revisal registry: every contract registration, change, or termination must be logged before it takes effect. Per-employee fines for late entry.
• Collective redundancy notifications: employer must notify ITM and ANOFM at least 30 days before issuing decisions when thresholds are met.

Each filing is individually manageable. Stacked across a year they consume real management attention. An EOR carries all of these on its own entity, not yours.

• Under 6 Romania employees at average salaries: EOR is cheaper and faster every month. The entity overhead has nothing to amortise against.
• Market validation phase: you are hiring 1 or 2 people to test commercial fit in Bucharest or Cluj. Entity setup commits capital and management attention before you know whether Romania will deliver.
• Project-based hires: 6 to 12 month engagements where the formation cost will not amortise before the project ends.
• No share option scheme needed yet: senior hires are not expecting equity, or you are still pre-Series A. Romania does not have a well-developed tax-advantaged employee option framework comparable to the UK's EMI, so this is less of a structural pull than in some markets. But contractual option rights in your own entity still require that entity to exist.
• Acquired team you may divest: post-acquisition holding patterns where adding a Romania SRL creates wind-up complexity later.

• Sustained headcount above 8 to 10 Romania employees at average salaries: the entity overhead amortises across enough people that per-head cost falls below the EOR fee.
• Local client contract requirements: enterprise customers and public sector buyers in Romania regularly require contracting with a locally registered company. EOR employment does not count as your legal presence for contracting purposes.
• Tax-treaty substance: some cross-border structures need actual Romania substance in your own entity. EOR employment does not create that substance.
• Works council obligations past 20 employees: Romanian law requires employee representative structures in companies with 20 or more employees. These attach to your own entity. They are not a reason to avoid incorporation, but they are a planning consideration when you cross that threshold.
• Long-term talent retention with equity: if you want to grant phantom shares or contractual profit participation, these are cleanest held in your own Romanian SRL or SA, not through an EOR arrangement.

The technical mechanic is contract novation: the employment contract transfers from Teamed's partner entity to your new Romanian SRL on a specified date. All terms carry across. Salary, holiday entitlement, and continuous service date all remain unchanged. The employee sees a different employer name on their payslip. Nothing else changes.

What we do operationally:

• Stand up your Romanian SRL through GEMO, typically around 4 to 6 weeks, while EOR continues running in parallel.
• Register the new entity in Revisal and ANAF before the first payroll on your entity.
• Novate every active employment contract on a single effective date.
• Migrate ongoing benefits without any lapse.
• File final EOR-period ANAF submissions and open new submissions on your entity from the novation date.
• Provide the same People Ops specialist as the post-graduation primary contact.

The Graduation Model exists because every other EOR makes this hard. We treat the move as something we help you plan for from the day you hire your first employee through us.

Real HR and legal experts handle your Romania hires from the first offer letter through every ANAF declaration and Revisal registration. An actual person, not a chatbot or a pooled queue. There is no setup fee and no exit fee. Every employer cost passes through at cost, itemised on every invoice. You see the CAM line at 2.25%, the leave accrual for 20 days, and every statutory contribution line. Nothing is hidden inside the management fee.

EOR payroll, contractor onboarding, and entity setup all live on one platform. Run the Crossover Calculator to see the month the model flips. Start from the Romania hiring overview. Key sources: PwC Romania tax summaries and L&E Global Romania employment law overview.