Court Stamp Duties

The judicial stamp duty is a fee owed to the state by natural and legal persons to resolve a legal issue through a judicial act. The services provided include actions and petitions brought before the courts, as well as requests addressed to the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. In certain cases provided by law, these actions and petitions may be exempt from the payment of judicial stamp duty.

Regulations for court stamp duties

The judicial stamp fees currently in force are regulated by Emergency Ordinance no. 80 of June 26, 2013. Through the issuance of this normative act by the Government of Romania and its publication in the Official Gazette no. 392 of June 29, 2013 – Law no. 146 of July 24, 1997 regarding judicial stamp fees.

The emergency ordinance concerned the adequacy of the judicial stamp tax system within the Romanian legal system, together with the modification of the legal framework for conducting the civil process through the adoption of the Civil Procedure Code, as well as the implementation of the new institutions adopted by the Civil Code.

What stamp duties are payable?

Judicial stamp duties are paid in advance and are determined differently - depending on whether or not their object is quantifiable in money, with the exceptions provided by law. The payment of judicial stamp fees is due for the trial in the first instance, but also for the exercise of appeals, under the conditions provided by law.

According to the legislation in force, Article 3 paragraph (1) of GEO 80/2013 states that the judicial stamps for monetary claims and actions introduced in courts are charged as follows:

• up to the value of 500 lei - 8%, but not less than 20 lei;
• between 501 lei and 5,000 lei - 40 lei + 7% for what exceeds 500 lei;
• between 5,001 lei and 25,000 lei - 355 lei + 5% for what exceeds 5,000 lei;
• between 25,001 lei and 50,000 lei - 1,355 lei + 3% for what exceeds 25,000 lei;
• between 50,001 lei and 250,000 lei - 2,105 lei +2% for what exceeds 50,000 lei;
• over 250,000 lei - 6,105 lei + 1% for what exceeds 250,000 lei.
• When the request made by way of presidential ordinance is evaluable in money, it is charged with 50 lei, if its value does not exceed 2,000 lei, and with 200 lei, if its value exceeds 2,000 lei.
• In the case of an appeal against enforced execution, the judicial stamp duty is calculated on the value of the assets whose recovery is disputed or on the value of the recovered debt, when this debt is lower than the value of the recovered assets. The fee related to this appeal cannot exceed the amount of 1,000 lei, regardless of the contested amount.
• Requests for the return of enforced execution are charged, in all cases, with 50 lei, if the value of the request does not exceed 5,000 lei, and with 300 lei, for requests whose value exceeds 5,000 lei.
• Requests for the exercise of the appeal against court decisions are charged with 50% of the fee due for the disputed amount, in the case of requests and actions that can be evaluated in money, but not less than 20 lei.
• For requests and actions that can be evaluated in money, if the violation or incorrect application of the rules of material law is invoked, the appeal is charged with 50% of the fee due on the contested amount, but not less than 100 lei.
• Claims of a patrimonial nature, which also request the reparation of damages suffered through an administrative act: 10% of the claimed amount, but not more than 300 lei.

The value of the judicial stamps for actions and claims that cannot be evaluated in money are to be presented and explained in detail, in the content of this article.

Court stamp duty facilities

As a natural person, you can benefit from discounts, deferrals, postponements, or exemptions for the payment of the judicial stamp duty, including those due during the enforced execution phase. These facilities are granted under the following conditions: of the Government's Emergency Ordinance no. 51/2008 regarding public judicial aid in civil matters, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 193/2008, with subsequent amendments and additions.

Public judicial aid can be granted to natural persons under the following conditions:

• The maximum amount of judicial stamp duties accumulated during a year cannot exceed the equivalent of 12 gross minimum salaries per country, at the level of the respective year;
• If you have an average net monthly income of less than 500 lei per family member in the last two months before formulating the request, the amounts of judicial stamps owed are borne entirely by the state;
• If you have an average net monthly income of less than 800 lei per family member in the last two months prior to formulating the request, the amount of judicial stamps owed is borne by the state in proportion to 50%.
• In other situations, proportionate to your needs as an applicant. If the certain or estimated costs of the process are likely to limit your effective access to justice.

As a legal entity, you may be eligible for reductions, deferrals, or exemptions from paying court fees for actions and claims brought before the courts. According to Article 42(2) of GEO 80/2013, these benefits are applicable in the following situations:

• When the tax represents more than 10% of the average net income for the last 3 months of activity;
• When the full payment of the tax is not possible due to the legal entity being in the process of liquidation or dissolution, or its assets are unavailable, under the law;
• When the court assesses, exceptionally, other cases in which, by paying the stamp duty, the current activity of the legal entity would be significantly affected, due to the economic-financial situation.

How do I find out the amount of court stamp duty?

The value of the judicial stamp fees is established by the court, in accordance with the provisions of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 80/2013 The value of the judicial stamp fees for actions and requests that can be evaluated in money is calculated at the value provided in the action or request. If this value is contested or is considered derisory by the court, the assessment will be made under the conditions of Article 98(3) of the Civil Procedure Code.

When the application concerns the right of ownership or other real right over an immovable, the judicial stamp duty is calculated on the taxable value of the property. If this value is contested or considered ridiculous, the court will charge the request by referring to the notary grids for indicative values ​​of real estate properties.

Exemptions for judicial stamp duty

According to Article 29 of GEO 80/2013, actions and requests, including those for the exercise of appeals, are exempt from the payment of the judicial stamp duty, regarding:

• the establishment and payment of pensions, as well as other rights provided by the social insurance systems;
• establishment and payment of unemployment benefit, professional integration aid and support allowance, social aid, state child allowance, rights of disabled persons and other forms of social protection provided for by law;
• legal and contractual obligations of maintenance, including actions for nullity, annulment, resolution, or termination of the maintenance contract;
• establishing and awarding damages arising from wrongful conviction or taking preventive measures;
• adoption, protection of minors, guardianship, conservatorship, judicial prohibition, assistance to people with mental disorders, as well as the exercise by the guardianship authority of its duties;
• protection of consumer rights, when natural persons and associations for consumer protection have the capacity of plaintiff against economic operators who have harmed the legitimate rights and interests of consumers;
• capitalizing on the rights of the National Red Cross Society;
• exercise of electoral rights;
• criminal cases, including civil compensation for material and moral damages arising from them;
• establishing and awarding civil compensation for alleged violations of the rights provided for in Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, ratified by Law No. 30/1994, with subsequent amendments;
• the rights and legitimate interests claimed by former detainees and persecuted for political reasons during the communist regime in Romania;
• any other actions, requests or procedural documents for which, by special laws, exemptions from judicial stamp duty are provided for;
• requests, actions and appeals filed by the prefect or mayor for the annulment of legal acts made or issued in violation of the provisions of the Land Fund Law no. 18/1991, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions;
• applications for the dissolution of companies regulated by Law no. 31/1990, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, and of economic interest groups, formulated by the National Trade Registry Office;
• the actions and requests regarding the service reports of civil servants and civil servants with special status are assimilated, in terms of the judicial stamp duty, to labor conflicts;
• for the issuance of simple copies of the documents on file, if the copying services are not performed by the court, but by private providers operating in the court premises, no judicial stamp duty is charged.

According to Article 29 of GEO 80/2013, actions and claims, including appeals filed, in accordance with the law, by the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, the Presidency of Romania, the Government of Romania, the Constitutional Court, the Court of Accounts, the Legislative Council, the Ombudsman, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Public Finance, regardless of their object, as well as those formulated by other public institutions, regardless of their procedural quality, when their object is public revenues.

In what situations are court stamp fees refunded?

The situations in which the sums paid for judicial stamp duties can be returned to you, as the case may be – in full, in part or in proportion, are the following:

• when the tax paid was not due;
• when more than the legal amount was paid;
• when the action or request remains without object during the process, as a result of legal provisions;
• when the correctly stamped action was canceled under the terms of Article 200, paragraph (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure (does not meet the prescribed requirements) or when the plaintiff waived the judgment until the summons was served on the defendant;
• when, in the divorce process, the parties waived judgment or reconciled;
• when the challenge to execution was admitted, and the decision remained final;
• in case the court declares itself incompetent, sending the case to another body with jurisdictional activity, as well as in the case of rejection of the request, as not being within the competence of the Romanian courts;
• when the evidence was administered by lawyers or legal advisers;
• if the participant in the process who was recused abstains or if the request for recusal or displacement was admitted;
• in other cases expressly provided by law.

What you need to know about court stamp duty:

• An action that has several claims, with different purposes, will be judicially charged for each claim separately, according to the nature of each one, except in cases where the law provides otherwise;
• If only part of the application heads were stamped when the application was registered, the action will be canceled in part, only for those application heads for which the court stamp fee was not paid;
• Counterclaims, requests for principal intervention, as well as requests to call in a guarantee are charged according to the rules applicable to the object of the request, if it had been exercised in the principal way;
• In the case of requests or actions brought jointly by several people, if the subject of the process is a joint right or obligation or if their rights or obligations have the same cause or if there is a close connection between them, the judicial stamp duty is owed jointly.
• Claims submitted during the trial and which do not change the taxable amount of the claim or the character of the initial claim are not taxed, unless the law provides otherwise;
• The staggered payment of judicial stamp duties can be done over a maximum of 24 months and for a maximum of 12 terms.

Court stamp fees in force for actions and claims not assessed in money:

• Possessory action: 20% of the value of the asset;
• Action whose object is a dismantling of the property right: 20% of the value of the asset;
• Request for servitudes: 20% of the value of the property;

JUDICIAL PARTITION

• Establishing the assets subject to division, the claims that the co-owners have against each other - born from the state of joint ownership, the request for a report, the request for the reduction of excessive liberalities or the request for sharing itself: 3% of the value;
• Establishing the quality of co-owner and determining the share due to each: 50 lei for each. If these requests are made within the same action, it is charged with a single fee of 5% of the value of the shareable mass;
• Eviction requests from buildings used or occupied without right: 100 lei;
• Requests made by way of presidential ordinance: 20 lei ;
• Actions regarding the establishment and granting of compensation for the moral damages caused to the honor, dignity or reputation of a natural person: 100 lei;
• Applications for establishing the existence or non-existence of a non-patrimonial right: 100 lei ;
• Requests for the annulment or declaration of nullity of a non-patrimonial legal act: 100 lei ;
• Requests concerning the right to use the rented or leased property, if they do not also concern the payment of certain sums of money: 100 lei ;
• Actions in demarcation, if a portion of land is not also claimed through the same application: 100 lei ;
• The request regarding the restoration of the parties to the previous situation, when it is not accessory to the action to establish the nullity, annulment, resolution or termination of a patrimonial legal act: 50 lei, if the value of the request does not exceed 5,000 lei, and 300 lei, for requests whose value exceeds 5,000 lei;

REQUESTS DURING THE TRIAL

• Requests for recusal in civil matters, for each participant in the process for which recusal is requested: 100 lei ;
• Requests for relocation in civil matters: 100 lei ;
• Late reinstatement requests: 20 lei ;
• Expiration requests: 20 lei ;
• Requests for re-examination against the conclusion by which the judicial fines and compensations were established according to art. 190 of the Civil Procedure Code: 20 lei ;
• Requests for re-examination against the annulment of the summons request, formulated according to art. 200 para. (4) from the Civil Procedure Code: 20 lei ;
• Applications for reinstatement, when the suspension of the trial is due to the parties: 50% of the judicial stamp duty for the application or action whose trial was suspended;
• Requests for the recovery of missing documents and decisions: 50 lei ;
• Requests for the release of simple copies of the documents on file, when they are made by the court: 0.20 lei/page ;
• Requests for the legalization of copies of the documents on file, for each copy: 1 leu/page ;
• Requests for the issuance of any other certificates certifying facts or situations resulting from court records or regarding the files in their archives: 1 leu/page ;
• Requests for the release by the courts of copies of court decisions, with the mention that they are final: 5 lei/copy ;

ENFORCEMENT

• Requests for approval of enforced execution, for each enforceable title: 20 lei ;
• Requests for suspension of enforcement, including provisional enforcement: 50 lei ;
• Appeal against forced execution - with the object of forced execution not valuable in money: 100 lei ;
• Requests by which the parties ask the court to pronounce a decision that confirms the understanding of the parties, including when it results from the mediation agreement: 20 lei; if the settlement or mediation agreement concerns the transfer of the right of ownership or other real right over one or more immovable assets, 50% of the amount of the fee that would be due for the action to claim the asset with the highest value is added to this amount among the goods that are the subject of the transferred real right. If the agreement or mediation agreement is about sharing, 50% of the value of the sharing fee is added to the fixed fee;
• Requests related to insurance measures: 100 lei; when the requests are aimed at the establishment of precautionary measures on ships and aircraft: 1,000 lei; requests for a European insurance order to block bank accounts: 100 lei;
• The appeal regarding the procrastination of the trial and the complaint against the resolution of the appeal: 20 lei ;

AUTHORIZATION AND REGISTRATION OF LEGAL ENTITIES

• Requests regarding the registration of political parties or for the modification of their status: 300 lei;
• Applications for the acquisition of legal personality by the organizations provided for in the Social Dialogue Law no. 62/2011, republished, with subsequent amendments, as well as for the amendment of their constitutive acts: 200 lei ;
• Applications for the acquisition of legal personality by non-profit associations, foundations, unions and federations of non-profit legal persons, as well as for the amendment of their constitutive acts: 100 lei ;
• Requests for the jurisdiction of the courts having as their object registrations in the trade register: 100 lei (Business registration / National Trade Registry Decision Appeals / Complaint);

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT

• Actions for the recognition of copyright and related rights, for the finding of their infringement and the reparation of damages, including the payment of copyright and the amounts due for works of art, as well as for taking any measures to prevent the occurrence of imminent damages, to ensure reparation to them or for the restoration of the achieved right: 100 lei.
• Actions for the recognition of the quality of inventor, patent holder, rights arising from the invention patent, assignment and license contracts, including the patrimonial rights of the inventor: 100 lei ;
• Requests (non-evaluable) regarding the rights conferred by trademarks, designs and industrial models: 300 lei ;
• Actions, requests, objections, appeals brought to the courts pursuant to Law no. 85/2006 regarding the insolvency procedure, with subsequent amendments and additions, of GEO no. 10/2004 regarding the bankruptcy of credit institutions, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 287/2004, with subsequent amendments and additions, and Law no. 503/2004 regarding financial recovery, bankruptcy, dissolution and voluntary liquidation in the insurance business, with subsequent amendments and additions: 200 lei;

FAMILY RELATIONS

• The request for divorce by the consent of the spouses, at the request of both spouses or of one of the spouses accepted by the other spouse - request based on the provisions of art. 373 lit. a) from Law no. 287/2009 regarding the Civil Code, republished, with subsequent amendments, hereinafter referred to as the Civil Code: 200 lei;
• The request for divorce when, due to valid reasons, the relations between the spouses are seriously damaged and the continuation of the marriage is no longer possible or at the request of one of the spouses, after a de facto separation that lasted at least 2 years - request based on the provisions of art. . 373 lit. b) and c) of the Civil Code: 100 lei;
• Divorce application at the request of one of the spouses whose health condition makes it impossible to continue the marriage. - request based on the provisions of art. 373 lit. d) from the Civil Code: 50 lei ;
• The request regarding the granting of compensation or for the establishment of the compensatory benefit: 50 lei ;
• Requests that are not ancillary to a divorce request and that have as their object the establishment of the child's residence, the exercise of parental authority, the establishment of the parents' contribution to the expenses of raising and educating the children, the right of the parent or of persons other than the parents to have personal ties with the child, family home: 20 lei/application ;
• Any request that cannot be evaluated in money, if it is not exempt, according to the law, from stamp duty: 20 lei ;

ADMINISTRATIVE LITIGATION

• Requests for the cancellation of the administrative act or, as the case may be, the recognition of the claimed right, as well as for the issuance of a certificate, a certificate or any other document: 50 lei;

NOTARY ACTIVITY

• Appeal against the decision of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Notaries Public or, as the case may be, of the Executive Office of the Council of the Union of Notaries Public by which conflicts of competence between notaries public were resolved: 100 lei ;
• Complaints against the decision to reject the request for the execution of a notarial deed: 20 lei ;

Bailiffs

• Requests for the resolution of jurisdictional conflicts between bailiffs' offices: 20 lei ;
• Complaints against the bailiff's refusal to fulfill his duties provided by law: 20 lei ;
• Requests for the legalization of the bailiff's signature and stamp: 20 lei ;

Offenses

• The complaint against the record of finding and sanctioning the contravention, as well as the appeal against the decision: 20 lei ; <

LAND REGISTRY

• Actions and requests in land deed matters, when they do not question the substance of the right: 50 lei ;

ASSOCIATIONS OF OWNERS

• The request regarding the registration of owners', tenants' or mixed associations and the appeal against the decision of the judge-delegate: 20 lei;

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

• Requests for legalization of documents or copies of documents, intended to be used abroad: 10 lei/document or copy;
• Requests for the authorization of translators and interpreters: 300 lei ;
• Requests for the attestation of the official Romanian qualification as a legal advisor and the experience acquired in Romania, with a view to its admission and practice in the other member states of the European Union or the European Economic Area; for the attestation of the qualification of authorized translator and interpreter, in order to exercise it in the member states of the European Union or the European Economic Area or in the Swiss Confederation; for the attestation of the qualification of judicial technical expert in order to exercise it in the member states of the European Union or the European Economic Area or in the Swiss Confederation: 100 lei;
• Requests addressed to the Ministry of Justice in order to recognize the professional qualification of authorized translator and interpreter or judicial technical expert, under the conditions of Law no. 200/2004 on the recognition of diplomas and professional qualifications for regulated professions in Romania, with subsequent amendments and additions: 100 lei ;

APPEAL AGAINST JUDICIAL DECISIONS

• Requests for the exercise of the appeal against court decisions are charged with 50% of the fee due for the request or non-evaluable action in money, settled by the first instance, but not less than 20 lei ;
• The incident call and the challenged call are charged according to the same rules;

APPEAL AGAINST JUDICIAL DECISIONS

• The appeal against court decisions, if one or more of the grounds provided for in art. 488 para. (1) points 1-7 of the Civil Procedure Code: 100 lei;
• Request for appeal for non-evaluable actions in money, in case of violation or wrong application of material law rules: 100 lei ;
• The incident appeal and the challenged appeal are charged according to the same rules;

EXCEPTIONS for exercising the appeal or appeal against the following court decisions

• The conclusion by which the sale of goods was ordered in the sharing action: 20 lei ;
• The decision to suspend the trial of the case: 20 lei ;
• Decisions to cancel the application as unstamped, unsigned or for lack of representative quality: 20 lei ;
• Decisions rejecting the request as premature, inadmissible, time-barred, or res judicata: 50 lei;
• The decision by which the waiver of the claimed right was noted: 50 lei;
• The decision by which the waiver of judgment was noted: 50 lei ;
• The decision approving the consent of the parties: 50 lei ;
• The request for the exercise of the right of appeal that concerns only the considerations of the decision: 100 lei ;
• Formulating the cancellation appeal: 100 lei ;
• Request for review: 100 lei/reason for review cited ;
• The action for annulment of the arbitration decision: 100 lei/each reason cited

OTHER COURT STAMP FEES for actions or claims not assessable in money

• Any other actions or requests that cannot be evaluated in money, except for those exempted from the payment of the judicial stamp tax according to the law: 20 lei