Starting a business in Bulgaria
Why almost everyone starts with an EOOD, what the Trade Register actually wants, and the 10% headline that comes with footnotes.
Gegen die Quellen geprüft am 2026-08-30
Dieser Guide ist noch nicht übersetzt - du liest das englische Original.
Before anything else
This is a map, not advice - see the German guide for the fuller version of that warning. Bulgaria changes details often enough that the date above matters: check the sources at the bottom before acting on a number.
The headline that brings people here is real: 10% corporate tax, 10% flat personal income tax, 5% on dividends, and EU membership. The footnotes are social contributions on a minimum base whether or not you pay yourself, and an administration that runs in Bulgarian - assume you will pay an accountant from month one, and price that in. Practically every Bulgarian company does; a good one costs less than the mistakes.
Bulgaria joined the euro area on 1 January 2026, so amounts here are in euro. Older sources quote leva - divide by 1.95583 and you have the euro figure.
The legal shell
The self-employed route exists, but unlike in Germany it is not the default for founders - contributions and liability push almost everybody straight to a company.
Which entity?
Свободна професия / self-employed
Freelance work under your own name, keeping things minimal.
Registration with the BULSTAT register, no company to maintain.
Social contributions are due on at least the minimum base every month, profitable or not, and there is no liability shield. Most freelancers who stay on this route are there for the 25% flat expense allowance, which suits services with no costs.
EOOD (ЕООД) - single-owner limited company
One founder, which is most founders. This is the default answer, and the one an accountant will assume.
Minimum capital is €1 in cents terms (2 leva historically - nominal). Formation all-in with a notary and fees: usually well under €200.
You will almost certainly also be the manager (управител), and a manager owes social contributions on at least the minimum contribution base every month from day one. The 10% tax gets the headlines; this is the actual monthly cost of existing.
OOD (ООД) - multi-owner limited company
The same thing with partners.
As the EOOD.
Write the partnership terms into the articles while everybody is still friends. The statutory defaults are thin.
The sequence
For an EOOD, which is the path nearly everyone takes. It is front-loaded: the Trade Register filing is the one real step, and the rest hangs off it.
Pick the name and check it
The Trade Register refuses duplicates outright, so search it first. Check the trademark registers too - the Bulgarian Patent Office and EUIPO - for the same reasons as everywhere.
The company name can be in Cyrillic or Latin script; documents will render it in both. Decide the spelling once, because every later mismatch between the two is a small administrative fight.
Open a capital-deposit account and draft the papers
Wo: Any bank, then a notaryKosten: Bank fee for the escrow account, a notary fee of a few tens of euroDauer: A day or two
The founding documents for an EOOD are short: the incorporation act, the manager’s consent and specimen signature (notarised), and the bank’s certificate that the capital is deposited.
The manager’s signature specimen is the one thing that must be notarised in person - or before a Bulgarian consul if founding from abroad. Everything else can be handled by a lawyer with power of attorney, which is how most non-residents do the whole thing.
File with the Trade Register (Търговски регистър)
Wo: registryagency.bg, form A4, online or on paperKosten: Roughly €25 filed online - half the paper feeDauer: Typically one to three working days
Online filing needs a qualified electronic signature (ÐÐÐ), which a lawyer filing for you will have. The register issues the EIK/BULSTAT number - the single identifier that is your company’s tax number, statistical number and registration number at once. There is no separate tax registration step: the EIK is it.
When the entry appears, the company exists. The capital account converts to an ordinary account, or you open the operating account wherever you like.
Achtung: Foreign founders: nothing stops a non-resident owning and managing an EOOD, but banks apply their own onboarding rules and are the slowest, most discretionary part of the whole process. Get the bank conversation started before you need the account.
VAT: decide, or be decided for
Wo: The National Revenue Agency (НАП)Dauer: Registration, where needed, within 7 days of crossing the threshold
Registration is compulsory once taxable turnover over the last 12 months passes €50,000 (the threshold set with euro adoption - older sources say 100,000 leva, same number). Voluntary registration below that is allowed and normal for B2B businesses.
Two triggers catch people early regardless of turnover: buying services from other EU businesses (a €0 threshold - receiving one Stripe invoice technically triggers a limited registration under art. 97a) and cross-border digital sales to consumers, where the EU-wide €10,000 One-Stop-Shop rules apply exactly as described in the Stripe chapter.
Once registered, returns are monthly, by the 14th, filed electronically, in Bulgarian - this is the point where the accountant stops being optional in practice.
Declare the manager and start the monthly rhythm
Wo: НАП, via your accountant
Before the company pays anyone - including the manager - it registers as an employer and declares the manager’s insurance status. Social contributions for a self-insured manager run on a base between the statutory minimum and maximum, paid monthly, filed monthly.
The annual rhythm: corporate tax return by 30 June, annual financial statements published to the Trade Register by 30 September, dividend at 5% withholding when you take profit out. An accountant’s monthly fee for a small company - commonly â¬50-150 - covers all of this.
What it costs to start
EOOD, one founder, filed online through a lawyer, which is the common case.
| Was | Betrag |
|---|---|
| Trade Register filing, onlineDoubles on paper. | ≈ €25 |
| Notary: consent and signature specimen | €10-30 |
| CapitalNominal since the minimum was cut. Deposit something workable anyway. | From €1 |
| Lawyer doing the whole formationOptional, and what most non-residents do. | €100-300 |
| Accountant, monthlyThe real recurring cost, and effectively not optional once VAT-registered. | €50-150 |
| Manager’s social contributions, monthlyOn the minimum base, due whether or not the company pays you a salary. The footnote to the 10% headline. | From â â¬150 |
The words on the forms
- ÐÐÐÐ / EOOD
- Single-owner limited liability company. The default founder’s vehicle.
- ООД / OOD
- The multi-owner version of the same.
- Търговски регистър
- The Trade Register at the Registry Agency. Where a company is born, filed and published.
- ЕИК / EIK (БУЛСТАТ)
- The single company identifier - tax, statistics and registration in one number.
- НАП / NRA
- The National Revenue Agency: tax and social contributions.
- ДДС
- VAT, 20% standard. Compulsory registration at €50,000 of rolling annual turnover.
- КЕП
- Qualified electronic signature, needed for online filings. Your lawyer or accountant has one.
- Управител
- The manager of an EOOD/OOD - the person whose monthly contributions are the hidden fixed cost.
- Свободна професия
- The registered self-employed route, via BULSTAT rather than the Trade Register.
The traps
- Budgeting the 10% tax and not the manager’s monthly contributions, which are due from the first month regardless of revenue.
- Treating the bank account as a formality. For non-resident founders it is the slowest step and the only one that can simply refuse.
- Missing the art. 97a registration when buying EU services - one foreign B2B invoice is enough to require it, and the fine is per month of delay.
- Missing the 7-day window for compulsory VAT registration after crossing the threshold.
- Forgetting the 30 September publication of annual statements. The penalty attaches to the company and the manager personally.
- Assuming leva figures in older guides are a different number - since 2026 they are euro at 1.95583, not a moving rate.
Where to check this yourself
- Registry Agency - Trade RegisterCompany search and the A4 filing.
- National Revenue Agency (НАП)VAT registration, contribution bases, deadlines.
- Bulgarian Patent OfficeThe trademark check.
- Invest Bulgaria AgencyThe government’s English-language overview of forms and taxes.
Das hier ist eine Landkarte, keine Rechts- oder Steuerberatung - und eine ehrliche darüber, wie sie entstanden ist: Der Deutschland-Guide stammt von jemandem, der den Weg gegangen ist; die meisten anderen Länder wurden mit KI aus den offiziellen Quellen erstellt und noch von niemandem abgelaufen, der es getan hat. Gesetze ändern sich. Jeder Guide trägt das Datum seiner letzten Prüfung und die Quellen zum Selbst-Nachlesen - und wer einen dieser Wege hinter sich hat: Genau diese Korrekturen wünscht sich das Handbuch.