After the company has been established, it could be registered as VAT payer. The registration under the Bulgarian VATA is compulsory or voluntary. The National Revenue Agency of the Republic of Bulgaria creates and maintains special register under VATA. Along with the entry in the register the legal entities shall acquire identification number for the purposes of VAT in front of which shall be placed the sign “BG”.
1.1 Compulsory VAT registration
According to VATA, Art.96, para 1: “Any tax liable person, who has a taxable turnover of BGN 50.000 or more, for a period, not exceeding the last 12 consecutive months prior to the current month, shall be obliged to submit an application for registration under this law within 14-days term from the expiry of the tax period, during which he has reached this turnover”.
1.2 Compulsory VAT registration based on executed intra-community acquisitions
Bulgaria is an effective member of the EU since January 1st, 2007. In this sense if a Bulgarian company purchase goods or services from EU-based companies registered under VAT there, then the Bulgarian company would have to perform the so called intra-community acquisition for the received goods or services in Bulgaria. In compliance with the Bulgarian VATA, art.99, para 2, upon exceeding the threshold of BGN 20.000 of intra-community acquisition performed in a calendar year, each person is obliged to initiate a registration procedure for VAT purposes on these special grounds.
If an obligation for VAT registration on the above mentioned grounds occurs, then the Bulgarian company should apply for VAT registration not later than 7 days prior to the date of the tax event, the acquisition of which will exceed this threshold.
2. Voluntary registration
According to VATA, Art. 100, para 1: “Any tax liable person, to whom the terms for compulsory registration under art. 96, par. 1 are not applicable is entitled to be register under VAT”.
