From gross to the money on your card
At 5,000 lei gross, you take home 2,981 lei, and the company pays 5,113 lei in all. The example uses the rules for July–December 2026: full-time, main job, no dependants and no meal tickets.
CAS and CASS come off before income tax. The personal deduction lowers the amount that is taxed, but it isn't added to your net. CAM is paid on top of the gross, out of the company's money.
This is Romanian payroll in English: the same rules, sources and calculator as the Romanian page, for anyone paid by an employer in Romania. It doesn't work out tax in any other country.
The average salary in Romania
In August 2026, the latest month published by INS, Romania's national statistics institute, the average salary was 9,497 lei gross and 5,688 lei net a month, across all employees and every field of work.
Use it as a reference point, not as the pay for a job: more people earn below the average than above it, because high salaries pull it up. Typing the average gross into the calculator won't give the average net exactly either, because contributions, deductions and incomes differ from one person to the next: at 9,497 lei gross, someone on their main job with no dependants takes home 5,556 lei.
Month by month, by county and by field of work, in Romanian: the average salary in 2026, the average in each county and the average by field.
INS data (TEMPO Online), from the series INS updated on 13 October 2026.
Your Romanian payslip, in English
Payslips and contracts in Romania are written in Romanian. These are the words you'll meet, and what each one means.
| On the payslip | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fluturaș de salariu | your payslip |
| Salariu de bază | the base salary in your contract, without bonuses |
| Sporuri, prime | extras for working conditions or hours, and bonuses; both are part of the gross |
| Total venit brut, salariu brut | the gross salary |
| CAS | pension contribution, 25% of the gross, paid from your pay |
| CASS | health insurance contribution, 10%, paid from your pay |
| Impozit pe venit | income tax, 10% of what is left after contributions and deductions |
| Deducere personală | personal deduction: income you pay no tax on |
| Persoane în întreținere | dependants you have declared to your employer |
| Funcție de bază | your main job, the only one with the personal deduction |
| Sumă netaxabilă | the untaxed amount at the minimum wage |
| Tichete de masă | meal tickets, paid onto a separate card |
| Avans | an advance on your salary, paid earlier in the month |
| Rest de plată | what is still to be paid to you: the net less any advance |
| CAM | work insurance contribution, 2.25%, paid by the employer on top of the gross |
The laws keep their Romanian names: Codul fiscal is the Fiscal Code, an HG is a government decision and an OUG a government emergency ordinance.
Questions people ask about pay in Romania
Why is my payslip different from the calculator?
The calculator starts from the gross in your contract, for a whole month worked. Your payslip knows things the calculator doesn't: days of sick leave (in Romanian) or unpaid leave, overtime, bonuses, an advance already paid, a voluntary pension, a garnishment (in Romanian). First compare the gross on your payslip with the one you typed here. Most differences start there.
My gross is going up. How much will my net rise?
By less than the raise. CAS, CASS and income tax come off every extra leu, so only part of it reaches you. If you get a personal deduction, it shrinks as the gross rises and disappears altogether above 6,325 lei, the threshold that applies from July 2026. Use the comparison of two gross salaries to see both nets and the difference.
The untaxed amount at the minimum wage (in Romanian) has its own conditions. Going over its ceiling can lower your net, even when the gross rises a little.
I have two jobs. Which one is my main job?
Only one: the one you declared as your main job (funcție de bază). Only there do you get the personal deduction. For the second contract choose "No": contributions and income tax are worked out the same way, just without the deduction. Your monthly net is the two results added together; the two-contracts calculator (in Romanian) shows both at once, and how your net would change if you moved the main job to the other employer.
For shorter hours, the part-time calculator (in Romanian) shows separately the difference in contributions the company may have to pay.
I get meal tickets. Are they added to my net?
Not to the money on your salary card: meal tickets come separately, on the meal ticket card. But you pay income tax and CASS on their value, and these are withheld from your salary. So with tickets, the net on your card comes out a little lower, but you get more in total.
How many you get depends on the days you work. Start from the working days of your month (in Romanian) and take away your days of leave.
What do gross salary and net salary mean?
The gross (brut) is your whole monthly salary, with bonuses and extras, before anything is withheld. The net is what is left after your employer withholds CAS (25%), CASS (10%) and income tax (10%) and pays them to the state (Codul fiscal, the Fiscal Code, art. 138, 156 and 64). At 5,000 lei gross in July–December 2026, the net is 2,981 lei.
The company's cost is higher than the gross: on top of it the employer pays CAM of 2.25% (art. 220^3).
What is the difference between the base salary and the gross salary?
The base salary (salariul de bază) is the amount in your contract, without bonuses or other extras; that is also how the decisions that set the minimum wage define it (HG 146/2026, for example). The monthly gross adds to the base salary the extras, bonuses and overtime paid that month.
The difference matters at the minimum wage: in 2026 the untaxed amount is given only when the base salary is exactly the minimum (OUG 89/2025, art. III). In the calculator, enter the base salary separately under "More options".
What is the net minimum wage in 2026?
From January to June 2026, the gross minimum wage was 4,050 lei (HG 1506/2024), and the net, with the 300 lei untaxed amount, 2,574 lei. From 1 July 2026 the minimum is 4,325 lei (HG 146/2026), and the net, with the 200 lei untaxed amount, 2,699 lei. This assumes full-time work, the main job and no dependants.
Every detail is on the 2026 minimum wage page (in Romanian).
What happens to the personal deduction as the gross rises?
The basic personal deduction falls by 0.5 percentage points for every 50 lei above the minimum wage and stops above the minimum plus 2,000 lei (Codul fiscal, art. 77 (3) and (4)). From July 2026 the threshold is 6,325 lei gross, meal tickets included.
With no dependants, the deduction is already zero at this threshold. With two dependants, at 6,325 lei gross the deduction is 432 lei and the net 3,743 lei; at 6,326 lei the deduction is gone and the net falls to 3,700 lei, even though the gross went up. The calculator shows the difference when you cross the threshold.
Why do two colleagues on the same gross take home different amounts?
The contributions are the same, but the income tax depends on the personal deduction. It is given only at the main job (Codul fiscal, art. 77 (1)) and grows with the number of dependants (art. 77 (4)); there are extra deductions for employees under 26 and for children enrolled at school (art. 77 (10)).
At 5,000 lei gross in July–December 2026: with no dependants, the net is 2,981 lei; with two dependants, 3,025 lei; at a second job, without the deduction, 2,925 lei.
I was promised a net salary. How do I know the gross in the contract is right?
Type the promised net here and compare the total gross with the offer. If there are extras or bonuses, keep them apart from the base salary in the contract. If the numbers differ, ask what was assumed: dependants, the main job and meal tickets all change the result. A net promised "with meal tickets" is not the net on your card. If your salary changes with the same employer, the new gross goes into an addendum (act adițional) signed before the day it applies from; you'll find one filled in for a raise (in Romanian).