Who can still get 9% VAT on a Bucharest apartment?

See what went wrong for property buyers in Bucharest

Can anyone still get 9% VAT on a Bucharest apartment today?

Yes, but 9% VAT on a Bucharest apartment is currently available only to buyers who were already locked into a qualifying purchase before the rules changed.

A new buyer cannot enter the scheme today simply by finding an apartment under the old price and size limits. Law 161/2026 gave existing qualifying buyers until 30 September 2026 to complete their purchase, after an earlier deadline had already passed, but it kept the old cutoff for the original purchase commitment.

That leaves a strange situation in Bucharest. Two people can buy almost identical new apartments from the same developer and face completely different tax bills. The buyer with the right old contract may still pay 9%; someone arriving now will generally pay the standard 21% VAT.

The remaining 9% window is therefore very narrow. It protects old transactions that were already underway rather than opening a discounted VAT route for today's market.

Buyer situation	VAT that may apply	Can the buyer enter the 9% scheme now?	Main reason
Buyer with a qualifying old contract	9%	Already eligible if all conditions are met	Transitional protection
New buyer signing today	21%	No	Old-contract cutoff has passed
Old buyer who fails another condition	21%	No	Every condition must be satisfied
Eligible buyer whose apartment is delivered too late	21%	No	Delivery deadline is missed

What does a Bucharest buyer actually need to qualify for 9% VAT?

A Bucharest buyer still needs several conditions to line up at the same time to complete an apartment purchase at 9% VAT.

The buyer must be a natural person. The relevant legal act involving an advance must have been concluded before 1 August 2025. The dwelling can have no more than 120 m² of usable area and must cost no more than 600,000 lei excluding VAT, including the land. The buyer must not have acquired another reduced-VAT dwelling since 1 January 2023. The apartment also has to be ready to live in and delivered by 30 September 2026.

There is an extra hurdle for agreements signed from 3 July through 31 July 2025. Those buyers must prove that at least 20% of the VAT-exclusive purchase price was fully paid by 31 July 2025.

This is why a quick question such as "Is the apartment under €120,000?" does not tell us whether someone qualifies. We have to look at the buyer's history, the old paperwork, the money already paid and the state of the apartment.

Eligibility test	Requirement
Buyer	Natural person, alone or jointly with other natural persons
Old purchase commitment	Relevant legal act concluded before 1 August 2025
Usable area	Maximum 120 m²
Value	Maximum 600,000 lei excluding VAT, including land
Previous reduced-VAT dwelling	None acquired since 1 January 2023
Apartment condition	Ready to be lived in when delivered
Final delivery	No later than 30 September 2026
Agreements from 3-31 July 2025	20% advance paid by 31 July 2025

Can you sign for a Bucharest apartment now and still get 9% VAT?

No, a buyer signing for a Bucharest apartment from scratch today cannot create a new right to the 9% VAT rate.

For someone browsing new developments now, this is the practical rule. An apartment can be 50 m², cost 450,000 lei before VAT and be ready for immediate delivery, yet the new buyer still cannot use the 9% transition.

The law requires the relevant earlier legal act to have been concluded before 1 August 2025. The later extension changed how long an already eligible transaction could remain alive; it did not move that entry cutoff forward.

So when a Bucharest developer describes a unit today as being "within the 9% VAT threshold," that phrase needs context. The apartment may fit the old physical and price limits, but a fresh purchaser does not inherit somebody else's tax eligibility just because the unit itself fits those limits.

Does your old Bucharest precontract really decide whether you get 9% VAT?

For many buyers, yes: the old Bucharest purchase document is now the first thing that separates a possible 9% transaction from an ordinary 21% one.

Consider two buyers interested in a 55 m² apartment priced at 500,000 lei before VAT. One signed the relevant qualifying agreement before the cutoff. The other discovered the project today. The apartment fits exactly the same 120 m² and 600,000 lei limits in both cases, but only the first buyer may still qualify.

That makes current 9% eligibility unusually personal. We cannot judge it from the apartment listing alone.

What needs checking is the actual document: when it was signed, what apartment it refers to, whether it covers an advance toward the acquisition and whether the person completing the purchase is the person protected by the old transaction.

Did every Bucharest buyer need to pay a 20% deposit to keep 9% VAT?

No. The special 20% advance requirement applies to Bucharest buyers whose relevant agreements were signed during the final 29 days before the cutoff.

For agreements concluded from 3 July to 31 July 2025, the buyer has to prove that at least 20% of the dwelling's VAT-exclusive value was paid in full by 31 July 2025.

That rule was aimed directly at last-minute contracts. Someone could not sign a nominal reservation near the end of July, transfer a tiny amount and expect to preserve a large tax benefit.

Earlier qualifying agreements are treated differently. The general transition still requires the relevant legal act involving an advance, but the specific statutory 20% minimum was attached to that 3-31 July period.

Date of relevant agreement	Special 20% requirement	Payment deadline
Before 3 July 2025	No special 20% rule under this transition	Other eligibility rules still apply
3-31 July 2025	Yes	31 July 2025
From 1 August 2025	Too late to enter the scheme	Not applicable

Is an old reservation form enough to get 9% VAT in Bucharest?

An old Bucharest reservation form may be enough in some cases, but the word "reservation" on the document does not prove anything by itself.

The law focuses on the substance of the legal act and its connection with an advance paid toward buying the dwelling. A detailed document identifying the buyer, apartment, purchase price and advance obligation is much easier to defend than a short form that simply holds a unit for a few days.

This is one area where we should be less confident without seeing the paperwork. The legal conditions are clear; whether a particular reservation agreement satisfies them can depend on the wording and how the payment was structured.

That distinction is financially important. On a dwelling priced at the maximum 600,000 lei before VAT, moving from 9% to 21% adds another 72,000 lei of tax.

How much can a Bucharest apartment cost and still qualify for 9% VAT?

A Bucharest apartment must stay at or below 600,000 lei excluding VAT, including the associated land, if the buyer wants to use the remaining 9% housing rate.

At the ceiling, 9% VAT adds 54,000 lei. The same 600,000 lei base taxed at 21% produces 126,000 lei of VAT.

The difference is 72,000 lei.

Even lower down the market, the numbers remain large. A 500,000 lei apartment produces a 60,000 lei gap between the two VAT rates. On a 400,000 lei apartment, the gap is 48,000 lei.

The threshold should therefore be treated as a hard tax limit rather than a rough target used in a developer's advertisement. Buyers also need to make sure the value being tested includes everything the legislation requires, including the relevant land.

Price excluding VAT	VAT at 9%	VAT at 21%	Difference	Total at 9%
400,000 lei	36,000 lei	84,000 lei	48,000 lei	436,000 lei
500,000 lei	45,000 lei	105,000 lei	60,000 lei	545,000 lei
550,000 lei	49,500 lei	115,500 lei	66,000 lei	599,500 lei
600,000 lei	54,000 lei	126,000 lei	72,000 lei	654,000 lei

Is the 600,000 lei VAT ceiling still realistic for a new apartment in Bucharest?

The 600,000 lei ceiling still captures some Bucharest apartments, but today's new-build prices have made it much harder to stay below it, especially in Sectors 1 and 2.

The latest Imobiliare.ro index puts the average asking price for a new Bucharest apartment at €2,549 per usable square metre. That is 9.3% higher than a year earlier and roughly 27% higher than two years earlier, despite a recent monthly decline.

The citywide average hides an even bigger divide. A recent Imobiliare.ro analysis found new-build averages above €4,000/m² in parts of Sectors 1 and 2, while Sectors 3-6 were closer to roughly €2,450-€2,500/m².

That makes the static 600,000 lei ceiling much more restrictive than it was when many qualifying buyers first signed. At €2,500/m², even before we deal with exchange rates and the precise contractual base, a fairly normal two-bedroom apartment can quickly approach or pass the ceiling. In premium northern developments, the limit can exclude much smaller units.

So the remaining 9% cohort in Bucharest is naturally skewed toward smaller apartments and cheaper projects. Large central new-builds rarely fit comfortably inside both the price and size rules anymore.

Bucharest new-build measure	Latest level	What it tells us
Average asking price	€2,549/m²	The 600,000 lei ceiling is tight
Change over one year	+9.3%	Eligibility has become harder in price terms
Change over two years	About +27%	The fixed ceiling lost substantial purchasing power
Parts of Sectors 1-2	Above €4,000/m²	Even relatively small units can breach the cap
Sectors 3-6	Roughly €2,450-€2,500/m²	Smaller qualifying apartments remain easier to find

Does the 120 m² limit matter much in Bucharest today?

The 120 m² limit still legally matters, but in today's Bucharest market the 600,000 lei price cap will usually eliminate an expensive apartment long before the usable-area ceiling does.

The law measures usable area, so buyers should not automatically rely on the total surface quoted in a development brochure. Balconies, terraces, annexes and other areas can be described differently in sales material than they are under the legal definition used for VAT.

In practice, though, the current price data make the 120 m² ceiling look generous. At the latest citywide asking price for new apartments, a 120 m² unit would sit far above the 600,000 lei VAT-exclusive price limit.

For most Bucharest buyers still trying to complete at 9%, price is therefore the tighter constraint.

Does a Bucharest apartment have to be finished to get 9% VAT?

Yes. A Bucharest apartment has to be ready to live in when it is delivered if the buyer wants the 9% VAT rate.

An unfinished unit cannot simply be pushed through a final sale on paper before the deadline to preserve the tax treatment.

The legislation ties the reduced rate to a dwelling that can be inhabited as such at delivery, using the legal conditions applicable to the original agreement. That makes construction progress especially important for buyers in delayed developments.

Someone may have a perfectly valid old contract, a qualifying price, a qualifying apartment size and the correct advance payment, yet still lose the reduced rate because the building is not ready in time.

For these buyers, the developer's construction timetable now has a direct tax value.

What happens if a Bucharest developer misses the 30 September deadline?

A qualifying Bucharest buyer whose apartment is delivered after 30 September 2026 should expect to lose the special 9% VAT treatment under the current law.

The latest extension gives the protected group a fixed final delivery window. We found no general exception that carries the reduced rate forward because construction ran late.

That is especially uncomfortable because the buyer may have little control over the problem. Reception of the building, cadastral work, utilities and other completion steps can sit largely with the developer and public authorities.

The tax exposure is still the buyer's problem in economic terms. At the 600,000 lei ceiling, a missed deadline can turn into a 72,000 lei difference between 9% and 21%.

Anyone currently waiting for a nearly completed Bucharest apartment should therefore care much more about genuine readiness for delivery than about the developer's informal promise that completion is "very close."

Why did Romania extend the 9% VAT deadline again?

Romania extended the remaining 9% housing window after problems with the national cadastral systems disrupted property completions near the previous deadline.

The disruption affected the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration, or ANCPI, just as some already eligible buyers were trying to finish their transactions. Law 161/2026 subsequently moved the final delivery date to 30 September.

The way Parliament wrote the extension tells us exactly who it wanted to help. The old agreement cutoff stayed where it was. The 600,000 lei limit stayed. The 120 m² rule stayed. The restriction on previous reduced-VAT purchases stayed too.

Only the completion window moved.

Buyers should therefore read the extension as extra time for a closed group of old transactions. Nothing in the new law gives today's apartment hunter a fresh route into 9% VAT.

Can you get 9% VAT if you already bought another reduced-VAT home?

No, a Bucharest buyer who has already acquired another qualifying reduced-VAT dwelling since 1 January 2023 cannot normally use the surviving 9% scheme again.

Romania keeps a Register of acquisitions of dwellings with reduced VAT, and notaries are required to check it when handling these transactions.

The rule follows the buyer rather than the city. Someone who used a reduced rate for a dwelling in Cluj, Brașov or Constanța does not get a fresh allowance simply because the next purchase is in Bucharest.

Joint purchases do not magically reset the position either. If a couple plans to buy together and one person's previous housing purchase may create a problem, the notary should check the names against the register before the couple budgets the transaction at 9%.

This is one of the conditions we can verify much more cleanly than a borderline reservation contract because there is a formal register behind it.

Can a company buy a Bucharest apartment at 9% VAT?

No, an ordinary company buying a Bucharest apartment does not qualify for this surviving 9% housing transition.

The legislation gives the benefit to natural persons buying individually or together with other natural persons. An SRL cannot enter the consumer housing scheme merely because its apartment costs less than 600,000 lei and has less than 120 m² of usable space.

That distinction is relevant in Bucharest because investors sometimes compare buying personally with acquiring through a company. Corporate VAT treatment can raise separate questions about deduction, taxable activity and how the property is used, but those rules do not turn a company into an eligible 9% housing buyer.

For the specific transition discussed here, the buyer needs to be a natural person.

Can a foreign buyer still get 9% VAT on a Bucharest apartment?

Yes, a foreign individual can in principle fall within the 9% Bucharest transition because the VAT rules are based on the buyer being a natural person rather than on Romanian citizenship.

The foreign buyer still needs the same old qualifying agreement, price limit, usable-area limit, previous-purchase history and timely delivery.

We should separate that VAT question from the rules governing ownership of Romanian land. Depending on nationality and the legal structure of the acquisition, land ownership can require separate analysis, including where an apartment comes with an associated land share.

So foreign status does not automatically kill the 9% VAT claim, but it can add another legal layer to the purchase.

What if a qualifying buyer already paid 21% VAT during the August gap?

A qualifying buyer who paid the standard VAT rate during the short gap before Law 161/2026 took effect may be able to recover the difference.

This is one of the few genuinely new rights created by the latest legislation.

The earlier transition had expired, so some transactions completed at the standard rate before the replacement law entered into force. Law 161/2026 created a refund route for qualifying buyers caught in that interval.

The buyer still has to satisfy the underlying 9% conditions. Paying 21% during the gap does not by itself create eligibility.

Under the law, refund requests can be made from 1 October 2026 following the ANAF procedure. For somebody who completed during that narrow period, the purchase contract, invoice, old advance agreement and proof of eligibility are therefore worth reviewing rather than assuming the 21% charge is final.

Will the Bucharest notary tell you whether you qualify for 9% VAT?

The Bucharest notary is an important checkpoint for 9% VAT, especially because the notary must consult the official reduced-VAT housing register, but the notary cannot turn a weak transaction into an eligible one.

The register check deals directly with whether the buyer has already acquired a reduced-rate dwelling during the restricted period. The notary also has formal duties around the authentication of qualifying transactions.

Other questions can require more document work. A strangely drafted reservation agreement, an amended precontract or disputed proof of an old advance may need to be examined on its own facts.

So a developer salesperson saying "the notary will sort out the 9%" is not enough. Buyers should get the documentary position checked before arriving at the final signing with a budget that assumes the lower rate.

Is preserving 9% VAT actually worth much on a Bucharest apartment?

Yes, preserving 9% VAT can still save a qualifying Bucharest buyer between tens of thousands of lei and as much as 72,000 lei at the statutory price ceiling.

That saving is large enough to change the economics of a purchase.

At 400,000 lei before VAT, the difference is 48,000 lei. At 500,000 lei, it becomes 60,000 lei. At the 600,000 lei maximum, it reaches 72,000 lei.

Those amounts look even more meaningful in today's Bucharest market. New-build asking prices remain 9.3% above a year ago according to the latest Imobiliare.ro index, so buyers are already absorbing much higher property prices than they were recently.

For somebody who genuinely qualifies, protecting the reduced rate deserves attention. For somebody who clearly missed the old-contract cutoff, there is little value in trying to force the transaction into an exception that the law no longer offers.

Apartment price excluding VAT	Saving from 9% versus 21%
350,000 lei	42,000 lei
400,000 lei	48,000 lei
450,000 lei	54,000 lei
500,000 lei	60,000 lei
550,000 lei	66,000 lei
600,000 lei	72,000 lei

So who can still get 9% VAT on a Bucharest apartment?

Only a narrow group of grandfathered buyers can still get 9% VAT on a Bucharest apartment today; someone entering the market now should budget for 21%.

The qualifying buyer must already have had the relevant purchase arrangement in place before 1 August 2025. The apartment must stay within 120 m² and 600,000 lei excluding VAT, including land. The buyer cannot have acquired another reduced-VAT dwelling since 1 January 2023. Agreements signed from 3 to 31 July 2025 also need the required 20% advance paid by 31 July 2025. Most importantly now, the apartment has to be ready to live in and delivered by 30 September 2026.

As we saw above, the latest extension gave existing buyers extra time after the cadastral disruption but kept the group itself closed.

The final answer is pretty simple. If you were already inside the qualifying transition, 9% VAT may still save you as much as 72,000 lei. If you are shopping for a Bucharest apartment from scratch today, the old 9% housing rate is effectively gone for you.

Who is the author of this content?

INVESTROPA

A team researching how property purchases actually go wrong across Europe

We are a team of real estate researchers and local specialists focused on helping people avoid expensive mistakes when buying property abroad, particularly in Bucharest. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can check our presentation page.