Working as a freelancer in Bulgaria

I work for myself in Bulgaria, I work remotly with the UK as bulgarins will not spend the money.

If to work as a freelncer, it does not matter what country to live in. The main question is to find such opportunity for working.

To properly pay taxes in Bulgaria as a freelancer, you must register yourself and pay monthly income taxes and social security. One disappointing thing is that it is impossible to register as a freelancer if you are employed with a company as well, so you cannot (as far as I know) legally work for a company and be a freelancer, because you have no way to pay your taxes.

As with most places, taxes for a freelancer are high, because you have to pay your portion and the portion a company would usually cover, which makes your taxes almost 30% (10% income, 17% for social security etc.)

kojidae wrote:

As with most places, taxes for a freelancer are high, because you have to pay your portion and the portion a company would usually cover, which makes your taxes almost 30% (10% income, 17% for social security etc.)

Isn't there a upper limit for social security? I have read about a limit for the part which is considered for your social security payments or doesn't this apply for freelancer?

I am not sure. I think I remember something about an upper limit (I am no longer a freelancer here), but I do not remember what it was.

I am in Bulgaria on a Type D visa work under a TRO registered office to my closely held US corporation. My clients are in the US at the moment and I pay myself from the US Company. I am working on my residence permit and while meeting with a CPA here to talk about forming a Bulgarian Corporation the tax issue came up. He said even as an employee of a US Corp I still have to pay the employer/employee taxes here as a resident. I do not recall the exact ceiling but it was something like I have to pay 30% of the first 3000 BGN or about $500 US a year.

A BG corporation is inexpensive and easy to set so it can function be a business structure for your freelance income. Taxes are so much lower here than the US so after I set mine up I will start writing contracts here. Your books have to be done in Bulgarian but you can get everything done for such a small amount and it is common to have your accountant handle everything.

I have a good attorney and CPA that speak English if you need some help.

Setting up my company as well. Who are you using as a CPA. I want to compare prices....thanks

see :
to be freelancer :

https://translate.google.com/translate? … ;sandbox=1

social contributions:
see Contributions for self-employed workers here :

https://translate.google.com/translate? … garie.html

you must pay social cotisations only between 640 BG to 3000 BGN of your revenues monthly

taxes for revenues :
4 % for agriculture sector
6 % for copyright and license sector (even program and softwre I believe)
9 % for real estate income
else 7,5 %

@Lawrence Wilburn  I would love to know about your CPA. Im starting my process to become freelancer in Bulgaria and Im looking for a good Bookeeper that speak Bulgarian and English or Spanish.

Hello Angie1417,

Welcome to Expat.com

As you should have noticed, this thread has been inactive for some years.

I would recommend starting a new thread on the Bulgaria forum to introduce yourself and ask questions regarding the specific topic you would like to discuss.

There is the Living in Bulgaria guide for expats, do not forget to check it out!

All the best,

Cheryl

Expat.com team

@Angie1417 hi Angie if you want we can have a chat over all these questions. I live between Shumen and Sofia and i am available anytime. You can call me on ***. Teo