Advantages of the tax system in Bulgaria
Bulgaria is more profitable in comparison to other European countries:
1. The easiest place to establish and run a business. – Business in Bulgaria can be performed under different forms of commercial organizations, which are stipulated by Bulgarian Commercial Law.
Registration of Limited Liability Company ( LLC), which is one of the most popular forms of legal entity in Bulgaria, requires minimum capital of 1euro and takes only 18 days, information courtesy of: "World Bank Study for Doing Business in Bulgaria".
2. An internationally competitive environment for foreign investors. Bulgaria has the lowest corporate tax at 10 percent which is one of the lowest in European Union. Personal income tax is also the lowest in EU, a flat tax at 10%.
3. Low cost of doing business in Bulgaria
Bulgaria is one of the most favorable locations for investors in terms of doing business, due to the following:
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10% flat corporate income tax rate
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Nominated development areas in Bulgaria attract tax breaks
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10% flat personal income tax ( no upper limit)
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5% withholding tax on dividends ( no upper limit )
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20% VAT rate
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2 years VAT exemption for imports of equipment for investment projects over €5 million and creating at least 50 jobs
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Competitive salary rates
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Competitive rates of operational costs( utilities, office rents, etc )
4. Bulgarian property market: is very attractive at the moment. This applies to residential, and production premises, office spaces and commercial and administrative buildings.
5. Bulgaria provides an attractive market for acquisition of production and technical equipment.
6. Bulgaria boasts a traditionally strong education system, which has resulted in highly skilled and multilingual workforce, as well as university educated specialists in engineering, medicine, economics & the sciences.
Bulgarian students are worldly renown for the high quality of their IT knowledge. In the Computing World are ranked at No2, being second after USA.
7. Stable political and business environment: A member of EU, NATO and WTO, Bulgaria has one of the most stable political and business environment in South-eastern Europe.
The Bulgarian economy maintains its excellent performance, it is the only country in Europe with a credit rating upgrade by Moody’s in 2010.
Bulgaria has a stable currency – Bulgarian Lev is pegged to the Euro at the level of 1.96lv.Which has produced remarkable financial results as second-lowest government debt in the European Union and one of the lowest budget deficits (2.1%) as of 2011 indicates Bulgaria as one of the most safe destinations forinvestments.
8. Strategic location Bulgaria is strategically located at Balkans,which is the cross road link between Europe, Middles East and Northern African markets, which provides a direct access to fast growing markets of these regions and makes Bulgaria, an attractive proposition for investors.
9.EU Funding - Bulgaria has received over EUR 12 bn EU funding for the period 2007-2013 and is expected another 1.8 bn BGN to be made until 2020 for infrastructure development, agriculture, manufacturing, environment, transport, ICT, renewable energies, training & development, Water and Waste management and many other infrastructure projects, which positions the country as secure for foreign investments.
10. Foreign investments: Bulgaria offers very stable fiscal and political environment for investors; the amount of Direct Foreign Investment has been raising steadily in recent years.
Many international companies have invested in Bulgaria, among which are: Lufthansa Technik Gmbh, Telecom Austria, Schneider Electric, Solvey, Nestle, American Standard, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Liebher Hausgeraete, Knauf, Actavis, Viva Ventures, Kraft Foods, Lukoil, Hyundai, Siemens, Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, and many others.
According to preliminary data, published by Bulgarian National Bank, the Direct Foreign Investment in Bulgaria for the period January – October 2012 increased by EUR 1335.7 millions, compared to an increase of EUR 1080.8 millions for the same period in 2011.This fact proves that Bulgaria is very attractive and secure destination for foreign investors.
11. Gateway to EU Market – Bulgaria acts as an excellent gateway to the European Market, which has 27 member states and an approximate population of 500 millions. Bulgaria is uniquely situated to become an international financial hub as there area no transaction taxes.