Wednesday 3 April 2013

Procedure for obtaining a personal tax number in Bulgaria


I am writing this in relation to the procedure for obtaining a personal tax number in Bulgaria. You must file a standard application form at the Bulgarian Revenue Agency with a copy of your passport/identity card and appoint an address for living in Bulgaria. The tax number you receive at the same day. The procedure can be done by explicitly empowered person with notarized Power of Attorney.
Regarding the accountancy I am sending you basic information below:
VAT registration
After the company registration in Bulgaria the next step is the VAT registration. The Bulgarian VAT legislation is based on the EU VAT rules and Directive 2006/112/EC. The VAT registration is completely separate procedure from the company registration and it is done for two working weeks after the company registration once all documents required are filed at NRA. The VAT registration in Bulgaria pursuant to the Bulgarian legislation can be compulsory or voluntarily. The compulsory VAT registration is for companies which income turns BGN 50`000 or make purchases from abroad for more than BGN 20`000. The voluntarily registration can be done anytime before the company income turns BGN 50`000. Once the company is VAT registered it must file VAT report to the National Revenue Agency (NRA) on a monthly basis. The Bulgarian tax authorities are very strict in terms and regulations related to the VAT law. For that reason the VAT reports must be filed each and every month up to the 14th of the present month for the previous one, they must be correct and contain all the information required about the accounting deals made due the month.

VAT rates
The Value added tax rates in Bulgaria is 20% for domestic supplies, intra-community procurements and imports from non-EU countries and 7% reduced rate for certain tourist services.

Tax rates
The corporate profit tax rate in Bulgaria is flat at 10% and the withholding tax at 5% on the gross amount of dividends. The personal income tax is 10% as well. 

Accounting services
We take care for filing correct VAT report to the authorities and send information every month if something must be changed or it is not correct. The client can always contact us if any questions regarding the accountancy of his company arise during the month for consultation. We take care for the accountancy of the company which includes not only filing the VAT reports, but also: preparation of employee documents and servicing them on a monthly basis, filing the documents required to the National Social Institute, preparation of payslips and payrolls, preparation and filing of annual reports;

It is very important also to know that the company must have a service contract/contract for the services the company provides with all clients and suppliers. The contracts can be bilingual but one of the languages must be the Bulgarian one. Very important also is the accountancy to have passive access the bank account of the company. Passive access means that the accountancy has username and password for the online banking system of the company and it can follow the transactions and the movement. This is needed in order the bank operations to be accounted correctly and on time. The passive access does not give the accountancy the rights of execution payments but only to make payment orders in the system.
Monthly and annual reports
The VAT monthly VAT reports are filed and the tax is due by the 14th of the following month for the previous one. The VAT tax period is a calendar month. All expense and income invoices must be submitted for the month they are received or issued in. Another very important document is the Annual Report. The annual report of the company contains Tax Declaration and Financial report. It is filed up to March 31 of the present year for the previous one at the Revenue Agency and the National Statistic Institute. It is also filed at the Registry Agency up to 30 of June of the present year for the previous one. Annual report must filed even if the company had been non active during the year. The tax (fiscal) year is the calendar year with no availability to opt for different reporting and accounting dates.

Our start-up fee for bookkeeping is EUR 125 and includes creating of a profile in the accounting software depends on the company needs and scope of activity. Our fees for monthly accounting services are based on the monthly number of accounting documents and the number of the employees.
An accounting document is each and every document issued or received on behalf of the company, inclusive: invoices (clients` and suppliers`), bank statements, tickets, receipts, orders and any kind of document for an income or expense of the company.
The information herein is based on reliable sources and data. The information provided is extent to the permitted by applicable Bulgarian Laws and Belgium Regulations.
If you have further questions related to the information above or other accounting issues please do not hesitate to contact us.