March 2021 / Bulgaria

19 Marzo 2021

FDI in Bulgaria in January 2021 was 32.7M euro

Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria in the first month of the year stood at 32.7 million euro, the equivalent of 0.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), statistics from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) showed on March 19.

In January 2020, FDI was 108.4 million euro, but the BNB originally reported 15 million euro, which was revised upward later.

Investment in equity, including in the real estate sector, was 4.5 million euro (compared to an outflow of 52.7 million euro in January 2020) and the BNB figures showed 29.8 million euro in re-invested earnings (compared to 120.7 million euro for January 2020.)

Net receipts from real estate investments by foreign companies totalled 0.1 million euro, the same amount recorded in January 2020.

The central bank data showed 1.6 million euro in investment outflows as debt instruments, recorded as the change in the net liabilities of Bulgarian companies towards their foreign investor owners, compared to an inflow of 40.4 million euro in the first month of 2020. Such financial flows include financial loans, suppliers’ credits and debt securities, BNB said.

By country, the largest direct investment in Bulgaria in January 2021 came from the Netherlands (23.9 million euro) and Germany (6.8 million euro). Notable net outflows were recorded towards Cyprus (-18.1 million euro), Italy (-11.1 million euro) and Austria (-7.4 million euro).

According to preliminary figures, Bulgarian investment abroad increased by 1.8 million euro in January, compared to 11.6 million euro in the same month of last year, BNB said.

9 Marzo 2021

Bulgaria Clarifies Taxation of E-Commerce

On 9 March 2021, the National Revenue Agency (NRA) published its position on the application of e-commerce taxation for personal income tax purposes. The NRA stated that no personal income tax is due when an individual sells personal items and items that are not bought for the purpose of being resold immediately afterwards.

When an individual is regularly selling goods, which are clearly not acquired for private use but for trading and profit purpose, then they must declare the amounts in their tax return and pay the tax due.

The full text of the clarification, issued on 9 March 2021, is available here (in Bulgarian only).

29 Marzo 2021

Bulgaria: Unemployment Kept in Check, Support Measures Yield Results

On average, six unemployed people are competing for one vacancy - according to the latest Employment Agency figures as of the end of February 2021.

In 17 regions the unemployment rate is above the national average, with the highest values recorded in northwestern Bulgaria - Vidin, Montana and Vratsa.

The strongest competition is in the districts of Razgrad and Vidin, where 15 and 12 unemployed people compete for one vacancy position, respectively.

At the other pole are Sofia-city and Ruse - with 4 aspirants per vacancy.

The data show that by end of January, eight people competed for a vacancy across the country, and as of the end of December last year they were nine.

According to social analysts, the reason for the improvement of the labour market picture is mainly the anti-crisis measures taken to preserve employment.

According to the latest data, the unemployment rate in the country is 6.9%.

Traditionally the lowest level is its level in Sofia-capital – a tad under 3%, and the highest - in Vidin region - 14%.

Source: Novinite

16 Marzo 2021

Bulgaria Announces New Reporting Form for Advance CIT Instalments

The Ministry of Finance has approved a new template form for the reporting of advance instalments of corporate income tax (CIT).

From 1 January 2021, CIT taxpayers should determine the advance CIT instalments and report them by filing the new form. Submissions should be done electronically between 1 March and 15 April 2021.

Once the advance CIT instalments are filed, changes to the assessment can be made. The changes must be filed before 15 November of the relevant fiscal year.

The new form is available on the website of the National Revenue Agency.