Bulgaria
A ten per cent tax, the euro since January 2026 — and the shortest land route from the Union into Turkey
Bulgaria has one of the lowest corporate income taxes in the Union — a flat 10 % — and has been a eurozone member since 1 January 2026, which removed the last exchange risk in trading with it for a Central European firm. It is also the cheapest member state for manufacturing and employment, and it borders Turkey, which makes it the natural transhipment point for anything moving from the Union to the south-east. The ports of Varna and Burgas open the Black Sea. The weaker side is administration and enforcement — contracts need to be drafted more carefully than in the west, and payment terms secured.
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Setting up a company
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Legal forms
- ·Minimum capital
- ·How long registration takes
Taxes
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Corporate income tax
- ·VAT
Visas and residence
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Short stay
- ·Residence
Investment opportunities
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Where the capital goes
What it makes and needs
Electrical equipment and wire harnesses, automotive components, engineering, food processing and wine, pharmaceuticals, IT and business process outsourcing, tourism. It buys machinery, technology, components and energy.
Money and payments
The euro. Bulgaria joined the eurozone on 1 January 2026, replacing the lev. Exchange risk in trading with Bulgaria ended with it — and so did the validity of every guide still quoting amounts in leva and the 1.95583 peg.
Importing into their market
The Union's single market — no duty is paid and no customs declaration is filed. Goods move freely; no proof of origin and no preference is needed. What replaces the customs work is tax work: a supply to a VAT-registered customer in Bulharska is an intra-Community supply, exempt with the right to deduct, and the customer accounts for the tax. It depends on a valid VAT number checked in VIES and on proof of transport — without both, the exemption falls away and you pay the tax.
If people travel with the goods — installation, servicing, training — that is posting of workers under Directives 96/71/EC and 2018/957. It requires notification before work starts, the host country's minimum wage and allowances, documentation in the host country's language, and an A1 certificate for each posted worker. Inspections are frequent in all three of these states and the fines are high.
Outlook
What to watch: the first years inside the eurozone and how they feed through to prices and to the wage costs that have been the main advantage so far; investment in the ports of Varna and Burgas; and the northbound gas infrastructure that makes Bulgaria a transit country for Azerbaijani gas.
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