Romanians who have copyright and for whom companies pay below 10% on the net are almost as many as IT employees, whose tax facilities have been reduced

For the net income on a workbook of 5,000 lei, the company pays 8,740. For the net income on copyright of 5,000 lei, the company pays 5,319.

A number of 95,178 natural persons declared income from intellectual property rights in 2024, according to a response of the National Authority for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), transmitted to Hotnews. The editorial man wanted to see how many people in Romania are paid on copyright and how many contracts there are.

Comparatively, the number of IT employees who, by 2024, benefited from fiscal facilities was 128,000 employees, according to the data of the Romanian software industry, ANIS, transmitted for StartupCafe. Those in the IT sector had, until last year, an income tax exemption.

Copyright facilities are important. If the person also has salary income (workbook in another company) or pensions, the company that pays copyright has a total cost of 5,319 lei for 5,000 net lei for the creator, compared to 8,740 lei as he has company costs for an employee on workbook.

Who enters the copyright

However, there are several conditions: the creators must carry out an independent activity, applying a set of criteria that are determined if they are truly independent.

According to the initiators of the law, the facilities for copyright are offered to several creative professions, people who cannot rely on constant income.

This is where the screenwriters, the journalists who are not engaged in the editors, musicians, sculptors and artists in general, part of the advertising industry, as well as the authors of studies.

They create original works, and copyright contracts allow them to capitalize on these creations without being permanently employed. Copyright and digital industries, such as web designers, graphics, but also researchers and authors of scientific works can be paid. In general, freelancers and independent consultants.

ANAF: The number of contracts is not known, but only of people

“We mention that the current declarative system does not allow to extract the number of contracts concluded by the natural persons for copyright,” said ANAF representatives for Hotnews.

What does that mean? It cannot be found how many contracts are active in total, but only how many people report income from such sources: 95,178 people have declared intellectual rights.

The information was extracted by the National Center for Financial Information in the Forms D212 “Unique Declaration on income tax and social contributions due by natural persons” and D112 “Declaration on the payment obligations of social contributions, income tax and the nominal record of insured persons”, the ANAF response shows.

What is the difference between the individual employment contract and that for copyright

The individual employment contract (CIM), regulated by the Labor Code, establishes a subordination relationship between the employee and the employer. Through this contract, the employee performs work in exchange for a salary, according to a program and tasks established by the employer. The activity carried out is regular, with clear duties, usually daily.

On the other hand, the copyright contract, regulated by Law no. 8/1996, implies the assignment of patrimonial rights over an original work, such as texts, photos, music or computer programs.

In this case, there is no subordination relationship, and the author works independently, without direct coordination from the beneficiary. The activity is occasional or unique, with the object of creating an original intellectual work.

From the point of view of social rights, CIM offers the employee paid rest leave, medical leave, contributions for pension and health, insurance for unemployment and seniority.

In contrast, the copyright contract does not automatically provide these benefits; Social contributions are paid only if the author's revenues exceed an annual ceiling equivalent to 12 gross minimum wages and no holidays, unemployment or seniority are granted.

What is happening fiscal

From a fiscal point of view, both types of contract are subject to an income tax of 10%. However, in the case of CIM, social contributions are automatically retained and include CAS (25%), CASS (10%), contribution to unemployment and medical leave. For copyright contracts, the tax is 10%, and the social contributions (CAS and CASS) are paid only if the income exceeds the annual ceiling. No contributions for unemployment or medical leave are paid.

The legislation in force grants to persons who obtain income from intellectual property rights the opportunity to benefit from an non -taxable flat share of 40% of the gross income.

This means that 60% of gross income becomes the basis for calculating tax and possibly contributions.

How are copyright contracts in other countries

In Germany, most of the income declared as income from Copyright (Urheberrecht) come from software or technical consulting, but often compensates as “income from independent activities”.

The fiscal system allows deductibility for freelancers in IT. The taxation is progressive, without special thresholds dedicated to the IT sector if the activity is classified as copyright.

In France, a distinction is made between the copyright in IT and those of artistic creations. For software, the assignment contracts of rights are usually between the author (programmer) and company.

Taxation is also progressive and allows lump -deductions, without categories that benefit from a preferential system.

At the same time, in Poland, the IT copyright (programming, software development, digital consulting) are protected in detail by contract, which ensures additional deductions: some IT revenues benefit from a 50% deduction for the copyright on the source code, limited to a certain annual ceiling, thus encouraging the declaration of these revenues.

In IT transactions, the written contract that specifies exactly what rights are transferred and for what uses it is considered mandatory for legal security, as opposed to other sectors.