Court stamp duty calculator (Romania)

Court stamp duty (taxă judiciară de timbru) is the amount you pay the state to file a claim with a Romanian court. The amount is set by OUG 80/2013 and depends on the type of claim: some claims carry a percentage of their value, others a fixed sum. Law no. 268/2024 significantly changed the rules for partition and divorce, so much of the information published before November 2024 is out of date.

How much is the stamp duty for a court claim?

For claims with a monetary value, such as money claims, the duty is progressive, by value brackets, under art. 3 alin. (1) OUG 80/2013:

A concrete example: a claim of 10,000 lei falls in the 5,001-25,000 lei bracket. The duty is 355 lei plus 5% of the amount above 5,000 lei, that is 355 + 250 = 605 lei. For very small claims, under 250 lei, the 8% rate would give less than 20 lei, so the minimum duty of 20 lei applies.

How much is the stamp duty for a divorce?

Since the amendment made by Law no. 268/2024, art. 15 OUG 80/2013 sets two levels: 200 lei for a divorce based on art. 373 lit. a), b) or c) Codul civil (the Civil Code), that is by mutual consent, for fault or after at least 2 years' de facto separation, and 50 lei for a divorce based on a spouse's health (art. 373 lit. d)). A claim for damages or for a compensatory allowance (prestație compensatorie) carries 50 lei, and ancillary claims about the children, such as the child's residence, parental authority or contact arrangements, carry 20 lei each (art. 15 lit. e)). Claims for maintenance are the exception: they are exempt from stamp duty under art. 29 alin. (1) lit. c) OUG 80/2013. The divorce procedure is explained on my family law page (Romanian).

How is the stamp duty for partition calculated after Law no. 268/2024?

This is where the main change happened. Until November 2024, court partition (partaj) carried a duty of 3% of the value of the assets, or 5% when several heads of claim were brought in the same proceedings. Since 3 November 2024, art. 5 OUG 80/2013 provides that partition, including partition of an estate, carries 50% of the duty calculated under art. 3 alin. (1), applied to the value of the assets to be divided. Be careful with older sources online that still show the 3% or 5% rates: those are out of date.

An example: for assets to be divided worth 200,000 lei, the full duty under art. 3 alin. (1) is 2,105 + 2% of 150,000 = 5,105 lei, and the partition duty is half of that, 2,552.50 lei. Under the old rules, the same claim would have cost 6,000 lei or even 10,000 lei. Separately, establishing a person's status as co-owner or heir carries 50 lei per person.

How much is the stamp duty on an appeal or a second appeal?

Under art. 23 alin. (1) OUG 80/2013, an appeal (apel) carries 50% of the duty owed at first instance, but not less than 20 lei. For example, an appeal in a dispute over a claim of 10,000 lei costs 302.50 lei, half of the 605 lei duty paid at first instance. Under art. 24, a second appeal (recurs) based on a breach of substantive law also carries 50% of the duty owed on the amount contested, but not less than 100 lei, and a second appeal based on the grounds in art. 488 alin. (1) pct. 1-7 Codul de procedură civilă (the Code of Civil Procedure), like one concerning a claim without a monetary value, carries 100 lei.

A special rule applies to the challenge to enforcement (contestație la executare): the duty is calculated using the usual brackets, on the value of the assets in dispute or of the debt being enforced, but art. 10 alin. (2) caps it at 1,000 lei, whatever the amount contested. When the object of enforcement has no monetary value, the duty is 100 lei.

The duty is paid in advance, and proof of payment is attached to the claim. If the amount is a burden, you can apply for legal aid (ajutor public judiciar) under OUG 51/2008. To classify your claim correctly and plan the case as a whole, it makes sense to talk it through with me before you pay the duty.