Provenance
How we verify our information
Anyone starting a company abroad has to believe information they cannot check themselves. So every important statement here says where it comes from - and how far it has been checked.
Editorially reviewed:
Why this is needed
Information about starting a company in Bulgaria goes stale quietly. A rate changes, a threshold is redenominated in euro, an office changes its form - and the article on the web stays exactly as it was.
So writing accurately is not enough. You also have to show what a statement rests on and when it was last checked. That is what the labels below do.
The four labels
- Official requirement
This statement follows from a legal basis or from an authority's own requirements. We name the competent body - not to borrow its credibility, but so you can look it up yourself.
- Practical experience
This is what we see in our own cases. Useful, but not a rule: what happens often can still be different for you.
- Situation-dependent
There is no generally valid answer here. A named body decides it - and that decision sits neither with us nor with any Bulgarian rule.
- Our service
This is a commitment from us. What we stand behind is stated here; what third parties charge or decide is labelled separately.
Two kinds of check - and why we keep them apart
These two are routinely conflated. They mean different things, and blurring them is comfortable but misleading:
- Editorially reviewedSource check outstanding
- The statement was read, reconciled with the pages that carry it, and examined for contradictions. That says nothing about whether the law still reads the same way.
- Checked against the sourceChecked against the source
- The statement was compared against the primary source named for it - the statute, the authority's own guidance, the register. Only this is verification.
Current state
These figures come from the same register that produces the labels on the pages:
- labelled statements
- 27
- named sources
- 14
- pages carrying labels
- 24
- checked against the primary source
- 10
- source check outstanding
- 17
Outstanding source checks are not an oversight - they are the honest state. The labels were compiled in an environment from which the official pages could not be requested, and until a statement has actually been checked against its source, this site does not claim that it has.
Review cycle
- Tax and VAT: at least quarterly, and immediately after any legislative change we become aware of.
- Register and formation requirements: every six months.
- Banking: the bank list monthly against the Bulgarian National Bank's register, the conditions quarterly.
- Statements about our own service: whenever the scope of that service changes.
The sources we name
| The sources we name | Responsible for |
|---|---|
| Registry Agency (Commercial Register)Authority | Keeps the Commercial Register. A Bulgarian company comes into existence on entry there, and annual financial statements are filed there. |
| National Revenue Agency (NRA)Authority | Responsible for corporate income tax, personal income tax, VAT registration and social-security contributions. |
| Bulgarian National Bank (BNB)Authority | Licenses and supervises credit institutions in Bulgaria and keeps the register of licensed banks. |
| Ministry of Finance of BulgariaAuthority | Owns tax legislation and the official communication on the euro changeover. |
| Migration Directorate, Ministry of the InteriorAuthority | Responsible for residence documents for EU citizens and third-country nationals, and for the address held on them. |
| Municipal administration (population register)Authority | Keeps the population register and performs address registration for permanent-residence holders. |
| State Gazette (Darzhaven vestnik)Legal basis | The official gazette. Bulgarian statutes - the Commerce Act, the Corporate Income Tax Act, the Personal Income Tax Act, the VAT Act - apply in the version published there. |
| EU legislation (EUR-Lex)Legal basis | The legal basis for cross-border matters: the VAT Directive, social-security coordination, euro adoption. |
| The individual bank's compliance functionDeciding body | Decides whether an account is opened, when, and against which documents. None of those decisions sits with us or with an authority. |
| Bulgarian notariesDeciding body | Perform notarial certifications and set their own appointments and fees. |
| Sworn translators and legalisation servicesDeciding body | Translation and legalisation of foreign documents. Whether and in what form either is required is decided by the receiving body. |
| The tax authority of your country of residenceDeciding body | Assesses your personal tax liability, the place of effective management and how the double taxation treaty applies. That assessment is not made by Bulgaria. |
| Start in BG operational experienceOur own experience | What we actually observe in the formations we accompany, and the documented scope of our own service. |
| Accounting and legal partnersProfessional partner | Specialist input from our accounting and legal partners. A partner's assessment is not an official ruling and does not replace advice on your individual case. |
What these labels are not
- Not legal or tax advice. We classify information and name sources; assessing your individual case belongs in a consultation.
- Not a guarantee of currency. A change in the law can be more recent than our last check - which is why the date is shown.
- Not completeness. We label the statements that carry decisions, not every sentence on every page.
- Not an official ruling. The named body is always the competent one, and its answer takes precedence over ours.
Questions about your own case?
What depends on your situation is best worked out in conversation - residence, business model, bank and accounting all interact.
Discuss your formation