In short
- Six steps: form and name, founding documents, share capital, filing, entry, tax and VAT registrations.
- State fee €28.12 online, €56.24 on paper. Legarithm does the whole registration for €280 before VAT.
- A foreigner owns 100% and can be the director. The consent is notarised in Bulgaria or abroad.
- Anyone can check a company free of charge in the Trade Register, by its name or its UIC.
In this guide
How to register a company in Bulgaria: the six steps
A Bulgarian company exists from the day the Registry Agency enters it in the Trade Register. The six steps below come in this order for every limited company, whoever files. Legarithm does them for you for €280 before VAT: company formation in Bulgaria.
- Choose the form and the name. An EOOD has one owner and an OOD has two or more. The name is written in Bulgarian and may carry a second spelling in Latin letters. Application D1 reserves a name for six months.
- Sign the founding documents. An EOOD needs a deed of incorporation, an OOD needs articles of association, and each needs founding minutes and a decision that appoints the director. The director signs a consent with a specimen signature before a notary.
- Pay in the share capital. A Bulgarian bank opens a capital deposit account, you transfer the capital, and the bank issues a certificate for the register.
- File application A4. It goes to the Trade Register online with the documents, the bank certificate, the declarations and the state fee.
- Receive the entry. The Registry Agency enters the company and gives it a UIC, a nine-digit code that stays with the company for life and is also its tax number.
- Complete the registrations. The National Revenue Agency registers the company for tax from the register data, with no application. VAT registration, the owner's social security and the first employment contracts follow where they apply.
What is the LLC equivalent in Bulgaria?
The Bulgarian equivalent of an LLC or a Ltd is the OOD, a company whose owners answer for its debts with their contribution to the capital. With a single owner the same form is called an EOOD. The minimum capital is €1, and the Registry Agency names the two as the preferred forms for a small or medium business.
The choice follows the number of owners. One founder takes an EOOD and decides alone. Two or more take an OOD, where the articles of association set the shares, the votes and the way out. The guide to the EOOD and the OOD compares them line by line.
Two other routes exist. A joint-stock company, the AD, starts at €25,000 of capital. A foreign company can also enter a branch in the Trade Register, for a state fee of €86.92 online.
How to open a company in Bulgaria as a foreigner
A foreigner can own 100% of a Bulgarian company and be its director. The Commerce Act sets no condition on the nationality or the residence of owners and directors and asks for no local partner. A company from another country can be the sole owner.
Three things tie the company to Bulgaria. Its registered address is in Bulgaria, and we provide one. Its share capital passes through a Bulgarian bank before the filing, and a notary certifies the director's consent from step 2.
Signing from abroad
- A notary in your country certifies the director's consent and it receives an apostille, or a Bulgarian consulate certifies it.
- An owner may act through a representative under a power of attorney with a notarised signature, so we sign the founding documents and file for you.
- Papers in another language are filed with a translation into Bulgarian.
- You pay the notary or the consulate, the apostille and the translation directly, at local prices.
When the owner is a company, the Bulgarian company also declares each beneficial owner (UBO) in the Trade Register, with a contact person who lives in Bulgaria if no director lives there. Owning a Bulgarian company gives no residence permit, and it does not by itself make the owner a tax resident of Bulgaria.
Documents and forms for registering a Bulgarian company
The Registry Agency accepts one application for a limited company, form A4, with a fixed set of attachments.
You send
- A copy of the passport or ID of each owner and of the director
- The name, the business activity and the amount of capital
- The director's consent with a specimen signature, certified by a notary
- For an owner that is a company: an extract from its register and its decision to found the Bulgarian company, with an apostille
We prepare and file
- Articles of association for an OOD or a deed of incorporation for an EOOD
- Founding minutes and the decision that appoints the director
- The bank certificate for the paid-in capital
- Declarations under Article 13 of the Commercial Register Act and Articles 141 and 142 of the Commerce Act
- Application A4 with proof of the state fee
A company with capital above €1 pays in at least 70% of it before the filing and the rest within two years. A company stamp is not part of the registration: the Registry Agency's list of documents has none.
State fees and the other costs of registering a company in Bulgaria
The state fee for entering an EOOD or an OOD is €28.12 when the application is filed online and €56.24 on paper. Reserving a name is optional and costs €10.23 online. The notary, the bank and the work on the documents make up the rest.
| Item | Amount | Who sets it |
|---|---|---|
| State fee, online filing | €28.12 | Registry Agency tariff |
| State fee, filing on paper | €56.24 | Registry Agency tariff |
| Name reservation, optional | €10.23 online | Registry Agency tariff |
| Notary for the director's consent | By the notary's tariff | The notary |
| Capital deposit account | By the bank's tariff | The bank |
| Share capital | From €1 | You, and it stays the company's money |
| Notary or consulate abroad, apostille, translation | Local prices | Where you sign |
| Registration by Legarithm | €280 before VAT | State fee, notary in Bulgaria and capital account included |
A worked example for the first year, before VAT. One owner, no VAT number and up to 30 documents a month: €280 for the registration and €150 a month for accounting, €2,080 in all. With a VAT number the accounting is €180 a month and the year comes to €2,440. What the €280 covers, line by line, is on the page company registration in Bulgaria.
We do this for you Company formation in Bulgaria €280
How long does it take to register a company in Bulgaria?
With Legarithm a registration takes 5 to 10 working days, counted from complete documents.
| Step | Time |
|---|---|
| Form and name | The same day |
| Founding documents | 1 to 3 days |
| Capital account and bank certificate | 1 day |
| Trade Register, from filing to entry | 2 to 7 working days |
By law the Registry Agency examines a first registration by the end of the next working day after filing. It refuses an application whose missing documents do not arrive within three working days of filing, and a new application pays the state fee again.
How do I check if a company is registered in Bulgaria?
Search the Trade Register on the portal of the Registry Agency. The register is public, and the law gives everyone free access to it.
- Open the Trade Register portal and choose the search by person or company.
- Enter the company name in Bulgarian or its nine-digit UIC.
- Read the record: the name and the legal form, the registered address, the capital, the owners and the directors.
- Open the announced acts to see the articles of association and the yearly financial statements.
A company that is missing from the register does not exist as a Bulgarian company. Its VAT number is a separate check: VIES, the EU's system for validating VAT numbers, confirms a number that begins with BG.
How do I get a business licence in Bulgaria?
Most companies need none. Bulgaria has no general business licence. The entry in the Trade Register gives a company the right to trade, and an agency, a consultancy or a software company starts work on that entry alone.
A licence or a permit is needed where a separate law regulates the activity. Banking, insurance, payment and investment services, gambling and crypto exchange are in this group, each with its own regulator. For such an activity the Commerce Act asks for the licence to be filed together with application A4.
Some activities need a notice in place of a licence. An online shop that takes cards or cash on delivery sends its details to the National Revenue Agency before the first order. Tell us the activity before the documents are drafted, because the objects of the company are written into its articles.
After the entry: bank account, VAT, tax and books
The capital deposit account holds the capital until the entry. For daily payments the company then applies for a current account in euros; business bank account in Bulgaria has the details.
VAT registration is compulsory above €51,130 of turnover in a calendar year and open to any company by choice, even inside application A4. Profit is taxed at 10% and dividends at 5%: the guide to corporate tax in Bulgaria has the rates, the dates and a worked example.
An owner who works in the company in Bulgaria registers as a self-insured person within 7 days of starting. An owner who lives abroad and takes dividends has nothing to register.
Books start in the month of the entry, with or without sales, and the first deadlines come within weeks: the 14th for VAT and the 25th for payroll. Every date is in the guide to accounting requirements in Bulgaria, and we keep the books from €150 a month: accounting services in Bulgaria.
To begin, send us the name, the owners and the activity. We reply with a quote and the expected dates.
