Trade with alcohol and tabaco in Bulgaria

Further to you question about the sale of tobacco and alcohol please note that it is not necessary the statutory capital of the company to be at least BGN 2`500. In fact the capital of the company can be even BGN 2 as it is minimal requirement pursuant to the Trade Law.

There are other further requirements and documents needed for the sale-trade of tobacco and alcohol.
Sale-trade of tobacco cannot be performed without the permission of the Director of the Custom Local Department where the company is. (art. 90a of the Excise Duty and Tax Act /EDTA/). A company can receive the permission if: there are no unpaid amounts to the government for social insurances or other liabilities to the customs; it has own or rent place for the sale-trade with tobacco; it had not performed sale-trade of tobacco without permission during the last 24 months.

In order to receive permission for sale-trade of tobacco the company must file an application to the Director of the Custom Local Department where the company is with the following documents attached:

- Certificate for Registration and Good Standing;
- Certificate for VAT registration if the company is VAT registered;
- Declaration the company is not in a liquidation process;
- Certificate for NRA for fully paid amounts to the government;
- Declaration for address of the company;
- Documents for ownership and contract for rent for the place of sale-trade of tobacco;
- All documents for state from the Municipality**;
- documents proving the evidence of a cash machine;
- copies of the contracts with entered with the suppliers of tobacco;

The Custom Department perform a check and if there are no violations issue the permission in about one month. Before the issuing of the permission the company has no right to trade with tobacco. The permission is issued for free and it is termless. It is important to notice that the permission issued from the Custom Department is valid only for sale-trade of tobacco bought in Bulgaria.
According to the information I found, permission for sale-trade of alcohol is not required.

** If the company decides to open a shop and sell alcohol and tobacco products it will be necessary to apply for state for: working time, using of place for sale;
If the tobacco and alcohol are ordered and bought from abroad the company must pay excise tax, duty tax and VAT. The company also must file INTRASTAT declaration related to the import of the goods from abroad.