FAQ

You do not have to live or reside in Bulgaria. However, your presence in the country at the time of registration of the company is advisable as the procedure is easier. This is due to the fact that as a manager of the company, you need to declare your consent to perform this activity before Bulgarian notaries. You can use the services of the nearest Bulgarian diplomatic mission (embassy or consulate).

Knowledge of Bulgarian is not a mandatory condition for the registration of a company. If you do not speak Bulgarian, you will be accompanied in your visit to the notary office by an interpreter. As a security measure, when you do not speak Bulgarian, we execute the documents in a bilingual version, i.e. the Bulgarian text is accompanied by a text in English.

If you hold a residence permit for Bulgaria, it is completely sufficient. If not, all that is required is a European Union citizen identity card and international passport or another ID document for citizens of other countries.

The seat and registered office are one of the main individualising markers of any company. The seat is the city where the management of a company is located. In other words, the concept of a seat is exhausted by simply specifying the city in which the company will be operating. The address, on the other hand, is a specific location within the city, where the management is situated. These the residential area, street, block of flats, flat, etc.

• One of the main functions of the seat and registered office is related to the communication which a company has. Although the major part of communication is done electronically, by e-mails and other programmes, sending various letters on paper is still relevant.
• The address has important practical significance because it is used to determine the competent Territorial Directorate of the National Revenue Agency, in the account of which social security contributions of workers and employees and taxes due will be deposited, the annual tax return, and declarations under the VAT Act, if the business entity is registered under the VAT Act, will be submitted, etc.
• Therefore, it is advisable that this address is valid and accessible because any correspondence sent shall be considered automatically received when it has been sent to this address. Such correspondence may be related to various claims, time terms, etc., which if overlooked may lead to serious problems for your company. All state and bank institutions use the corporate seat and address to send their correspondence.
• In addition, the address must include a representative who is authorised to sign and receive any documents on behalf of the company and to be responsible before the tax authorities.
• The use of an invalid address or an address at which the company has not provided its authorised representative may lead to serious financial and administrative penalties for the company and for its director, as well as to forcible termination of the VAT registration, together with all the negative fiscal consequences resulting therefrom.

• A company can be engaged in an unlimited number of activities – you can for example register a company for the sale of clothes, and at the same time provide consultancy services and perform carriage of goods.
• It is important to make a clarification here – there are activities regulated by the law which may only be carried out by a particular type of traders and the company in question may not deal in any other activity except the one specifically provided for in the law. An example of traders who can only do a particular type of business are the pawn shops, loan institutions, insurance companies, etc.

Company registration is performed within very reasonable time terms – between 1 and 2 business days as of submission of the application to the Commercial Register, subject to the workload at the moment and the number of applications submitted. The term for the transfer of the title to a company and making changes in an already registered company is about 5-6 business days.

Your financial year commences on January 1st and ends on December 31st. Companies that have commenced their business after January 1st report their operations as of their establishment until December 31st;

VAT returns have to be submitted on a monthly basis up to the 14th day of the month for the incomes and expenses during the preceding month. The VAT payable, if applicable, is to be paid within the same period.

The annual financial statements and annual tax return for the preceding financial year are to be prepared and filed with the NRA (National Revenue Agency) until March 31st at the latest. Corporate taxes due also have to be paid within the same period.

Afterwards, your annual financial statements are to be published by June 30th at the latest in the Commercial Register under the company’s file so as to be visible for public inspection.