Bulgaria

Starting a Business in

Bulgaria

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Druzestvo s Ogranichena Otgovornost (OOD)
  • City: Sofia

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Execute the minutes of the constituent meeting of the shareholders in the ODD; obtain a notary certified statement of consent and signature specimen of the manager, and a certified copy of the articles of incorporation of the ODD.

The appointment of manager(s) is evidenced by a resolution passed by the constituent meeting of interest holders. The statement of consent and signature specimen is embodied into a single document, and notary certification of manager(s)' signature(s) is required.


 1 day (30 min.) BGN 5
2 Deposit paid-up capital in a bank

The capital-accruing bank account must be opened either by the company manager or by a person authorized by a notary-certified power of attorney. Those persons delegated authority over the bank account must provide a signature specimen in person or a notary-certified specimen. The amount of capital stays blocked in the bank account until the registry issues a decision on the company registration. The Commercial Act requires the minimum capital prescribed by law, i.e. BGN 2, to be paid-in prior to incorporation. After opening the escrow account and despositing the funds therein the company under incorporation is issued a certificate evidencing the shareholders' deposit of the capital. The certificate must be presented at the registry.
1-2 days BGN 10 -30 BGN (depending on the bank)
3 Register with the Commercial Register at the Registry Agency

The registration is done using a Standard Application (A4 Form – "Application for registration of circumstances
related to a limited liability company"). The following documents must be attached to the application: (1) Agreement of Association, (2) Resolution for appointment of manager(s), (3) Notary certified consent and signature specimen of manager(s), and (4) Bank certificate for deposited capital. The state fees are BGN 160 if the documents are filed with the Registry Agency on paper or BGN 110 if the registration documents are filed with the Registry Agency electronically.


4 days BGN 110 - fee for registration electronically
4 Register for VAT

The Value Added Tax Act (promulgated on August 4, 2006 in State Gazette issue 63) became effective on January 1, 2007 (Bulgaria's EU accession date). Under this new law, the company may voluntarily register for VAT purposes at any time, because the current threshold requirement has been abolished. A voluntarily registered person shall remain VAT-registered for 24 months starting from the beginning of the year following the year of VAT registration. The company must register for VAT purposes in Bulgaria if its turnover for 12 consecutive months exceeds BGN 50,000. Specific grounds for obligatory registration for VAT purposes apply when: - A person from an EU member state who is not established in Bulgaria and provides taxable supplies of goods that are to be assembled or installed in Bulgaria by that person or at his or her expense (if the recipient is not registered for VAT in Bulgaria). - A person from another EU member state supplies goods to Bulgaria exceeding total value of BGN 70,000 under the conditions of distance sales of goods within a given calendar year. - A person (whether resident or not) performs taxable intracommunity acquisitions in Bulgaria exceeding BGN 20,000 within a given calendar year. - A person (whether resident or not) receives supplies of services under chargeable supplies having place of performance on Bulgarian territory with respect to which the VAT is due by the recipient. - A Bulgarian resident performing supplies of services having place of supply the territory of another EU member state.
1 day (filing), about 12 days for final registration no charge
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