The information below is regarding the procedure for a car
registration in Bulgaria, the insurances payable for having a car here
and the accounting details for having a car in the name of Bulgarian
company.
1. For the registration of the car in the Bulgarian Traffic Police Department (BTPD):
1.1
first you must have and pay TPL insurance with or without green card as
per your request. If you plan to drive the car abroad it is preferable
to have green card. The fee for such insurance differs depends on the
volume of the engine of the car; The TPL is valid one year and it must
be renewed after expiration.
1.2. then you need some documents as: Contract for sale-trade of the
car, invoice for the sale from the seller; all car papers (certificate
of the car, etc.);
1.3. Certificate for Good Standing of the company and the company stamp;
1.4. All documents mentioned above must have copies certified “true copy” with the company stamp;
Having the documents above you must go to BTPD with the car in person and:
1.5. first you must pay the eco tax which amount depends on the volume of the engine of the car;
1.6. then all the documents and their copies with the paper for paid eco
tax must be filed for check up at the registration bureau where an
employee checks them, fill in an internal application form and sends you
to pay a tax for processing of documents;
1.7. upon the payment of the tax for processing of documents you must
return to the registration bureau in order to receive a reference number
for the police line;
1.8. then you go to the police line with all
documents and the reference number where a policeman take the documents
and leave you only the reference number;
1.9. at the police line the car pass through a technical review; during
the review the new number plate is issuing and the certificate of the
car; if everything with the technical review is normal after that you
return the old number plates, take the new ones and the certificate of
the car. The certificate of the car is small one and big one. Please
note that the big one must not be at the car. If there are problems with
the car you will return the old number plates, take the new ones and
the certificate of the car but their validation will be only one month
during which you must remove the car problems and pass through the
technical review again. If everything is fine after the second technical
review you will receive new permanent number plates and permanent
certificate of the car;
Please note that it is very important for us to know in advance what
are the number plates of the car - with permanent use or transitory
number plates with expiring period. The transitory number plate is
returned to the BTPD but for permanent number plates, BTPD issues
special certificate. This special certificate after that is certified in
the Criminal Police and then in the Ministry of Foreign affairs. After
that you must bring the Certificate at the Municipality of Belgium and
strike off the car in order to no longer pay taxes there. This procedure
takes up about one month and it can be done from an empowered person
with explicit notary certified Power of Attorney.
2. Registration at the Municipality
After the registration of the
car at the BTPD the car must be registered at the Municipality where the
company is registered, with copy of the certificate of car, the
contract for sale of the car and the invoice for purchase (all in
original with one copy certified with the company stamp). Then fill in
an application and the employee gives a ticket with the amount for local
car taxes for payment for the present year. This procedure can be done
from an empowered person with explicit notary certified Power of
Attorney.
For all procedures related to the registration of the car at the BTPD,
transitory number and registration at the Municipality you can appoint
an empowered person with explicit notary certified Power of Attorney to
do everything for and on your behalf. Only for the registration at the
BTPD your presence is needed.
3. Type of insurances
The first one is compulsory insurance
already mentioned is Third Party Liability (Green card). This insurance
applies only to road accidents and covers the damages of the affected
car, not of the one that causes the accident. The price of this
insurance is determined by the volume of the engine of the car.
The second car insurance is called Kasko and it is not compulsory. It
applies not only to car accidents but also to damages caused by natural
disasters, fire and theft. Kasko guarantees that no matter who has been
responsible, for example, for a car accident (you or the other driver)
your damages will be covered by the insurance company. Also, the car
insurance Kasko is made for your own protection in case you get hit by
another driver and he runs away from the place of the accident. In this
case TPL (green card) does not cover the cost of the damages. The price
of Kasko will be determined by the market price of the car.
4. Accounting of the car.
In order the deal for purchase of the
car the Bulgarian company must represent the contract for sale-trade and
an invoice which will be archives in the company file. Purchasing of a
car is not an expense of the company but an asset. The expenses arisen
are related with the taxes for registration of the car, expenses for
gasoil, parking etc. Other expenses arisen from having the car as an
asset are related to the annual depreciation of the car. The
depreciation percent of a car is 25% of the price per year. This means
that if the car costs BGN 20`000 per contract, for example, the
depreciation per year will be BGN 5`000 and per month BGN 416.67. This
means that you can decrease the expense for depreciation from your
income at the end of the year. When you sell the car you cannot sell it
below the balance amount at the moment of sale. The balance amount is
the amount of purchasing the car minus the depreciation for the period
of possession the car. For example if you buy the car on 1st of January
2013 and decide to sell it 20th of May 2015 you cannot sell it for less
than BGN 12`916.61. At the moment of striking off the car from the asset
plan of your company if you sell it for BGN 15`000 for example you will
have profit of BGN 2`083.39.