Bulgarian company

@Mic Yarden Transfer the company to me?

@maltabg

Could you please give some information as to why you want the transfer and if it would be advantageous to the OP.

That way the OP can make an informed decision.

Well Stumpy, it should be clear. Much BG property is being sold with some parcels of Agricultural land. Not all the land is Regulated. On this basis, if a non resident wants to buy property that includes some Agricultural land, it needs to be through a +5 year established Bulgarian company. These +5 year companies (Sometimes old businesses and sometimes off the shelf companies) are being sold by Law firms at very high prices. Many non Bulgarians that had old companies and later sold their property may be stuck with an empty company making annual tax filings. They can close it, or pass it on to the next wave of buyers looking for a +5 year company. That's the hypothesis. If anyone reading this is looking to buy a +5 year company or have one you want to offload, maybe this is the thread to post a reply so we have a sort of marketplace to help each other. Thx.

    Well Stumpy, it should be clear. Much BG property is being sold with some parcels of Agricultural land. Not all the land is Regulated. On this basis, if a non resident wants to buy property that includes some Agricultural land, it needs to be through a +5 year established Bulgarian company. These +5 year companies (Sometimes old businesses and sometimes off the shelf companies) are being sold by Law firms at very high prices. Many non Bulgarians that had old companies and later sold their property may be stuck with an empty company making annual tax filings. They can close it, or pass it on to the next wave of buyers looking for a +5 year company. That's the hypothesis. If anyone reading this is looking to buy a +5 year company or have one you want to offload, maybe this is the thread to post a reply so we have a sort of marketplace to help each other. Thx.
   

    -@maltabg

But you are an EU citizen so can't buy without any issues?

Any idea how much costs such a company, with 5 + years of history, bought through a law company ?

@SimCityAT only if the land is Regulated eg the garden around the property. Most of the properties with larger gardens, the "garden" is broken up on the plans into smaller segments and some segments are regulated and some segments unregulated. The unregulated parts fall under the foreigner rules and require being purchased through a resident person or legal person eg a resident company that is +5 years.  Some of the ready made company fees reached 4000 odd. This one is 3300 eur....   companyinbulgaria.net/product/ready-made-companies/

I also want to close my Bulgarian company and transfer house and car to myself as an EU citizen although I registered everything as a British citizen having only taken my Irish citizenship after Brexit.  I want to sell some of my land it's in regulation and my car and obviously pay as little tax as possible.  I also have BG D visa.  Complicated or what.  Any suggestions?  The company is over 21 years old.

Hello, why you have a Visa D. As an Irish citizen you can simply visit Bulgaria and register as an EU citizen and obtain 5 years residence permit.

Transfer of the house and car to you as a person is a simple act, but you need to pay all the expenses (approx 4% from the price, lawyers fees,if needed are not included).

I just didn't catch the idea of this exercise....

@Vasilev

I applied for my Visa when I held a UK licence so my company & property are held under UK citizenship.  After Brexit I got my EU passport because I was born in Northern Ireland which entitles me to dual citizenship.  I'm unsure how to go about changing my assets to myself as an EU citizen.  I obtained my D Visa during Covid because I needed to to come to Bulgaria.  Hope this explains the query.

Are you sure that you are taking about Visa D during COVID, because then the Transition period was still active?

Yes early in Covid 2021, it's due for renewal next month.  I didn't know about transition so well probably let it lapse as I'm now an EU citizen. 

@Mic Yarden

Short answers, in the order you asked. All of this depends on your actual numbers, so treat it as the shape of the problem rather than advice on your case.

1. No profit does not mean no obligations. The company still files its annual return and financial statements even with zero activity — a dormant company is not an invisible one. Separately, your own insurance is a different question from the company's profit. If you are registered as self-insured through the company, contributions are due on the statutory minimum base regardless of whether the company earned anything; that base rose to EUR 620.20 on 1 August 2026. Switching to paying health insurance on your own is only possible if you are genuinely not insured on another ground, so check which of the two you are before you change anything.

2. Gifting the car to yourself is the option I would avoid. A company asset transferred to its owner for nothing is, in substance, a distribution of profit. Bulgarian practice treats that as hidden distribution, with dividend tax consequences and penalties on top. It looks like the simple route and it is the expensive one.

3. "Minimum amount possible" is the same trap from the other side. A sale from the company to its owner is a related-party transaction, and the tax authority can adjust the price to market value. On the 10% question — the tax is not on the sale price and not on the difference from what you paid. It is on the difference between the sale price and the car's current book value after depreciation. A car bought at 20,000 and written down to 8,000, sold for 12,000, produces a taxable gain of 4,000 even though you sold it for less than you paid. Also check whether the company deducted VAT on the purchase, because disposal triggers a VAT consequence that people forget entirely.

4. No, you cannot close first and sell after. Liquidation requires the balance sheet to be cleared — the car has to leave the company before the company can be struck off. And closing is not quick: there is a clearance procedure with the NRA and a statutory notice period for creditors, so plan in months rather than weeks.

The sequence that usually works is: value the car properly, sell it at a defensible market price, settle the tax on the gain, then start the liquidation. Slower and duller than a gift, and much cheaper than explaining a gift two years later.

@Daniel Malbasic

Useful information, but as this is a three year old post and I don't think Mick is currently active on the forum, he may not see it and hopefully already resolved the issue!

Though non-EU citizens must have a company to buy property with land, it does seem best to wait on buying a vehicle till one has residency rather than owning it via the company. The decision we're facing now -- we need a vehicle but can't get residency yet.

@Daniel Malbasic
Useful information, but as this is a three year old post and I don't think Mick is currently active on the forum, he may not see it and hopefully already resolved the issue!
Though non-EU citizens must have a company to buy property with land, it does seem best to wait on buying a vehicle till one has residency rather than owning it via the company. The decision we're facing now -- we need a vehicle but can't get residency yet. - @janemulberry

IIRC, you can't register a motor vehicle in your own name in Bulgaria unless you're a Long-term/Permanent resident; however, you can buy one in your own name. So you'd have to register it in the company name with the company as the owner.

If you don't have/want a BG EOOD but opt for the TRO route (while it lasts) the vehicle will belong to the TRO. However, the company concerned, being by definition a non-Bulgarian entity, can't register it. So the car's registration papers will show the company as the owner but the registration will be tied to the Trade Representative's residence permit. The real world implication is that the vehicle will have a blue XX number plate and the registration will lapse whenever the TR's permit does, ie every year to start with, and has to be te-registered.

Goodness knows what will happen if/when they scrap/amend the TRO arrangement...

Hmm, so if I am in that transition period getting one year residency cards until I can apply for permanent residency, I still can't register the car in my name, it has to be owned by my company?

I won't be going for TRO, my application this year will be for a year, as a digital nomad earning freelance income outside of the EU), and then next year I will qualify as a pensioner at last so can apply again in that category.

Would the additional company asset mean, as @Daniel Malbasic suggests, that I need to do more accounting paperwork for the company? I do none at present as it's inactive apart from owning the properties.

The company (presumably an EOOD) will no longer be inactive if it buys a vehicle. A car acquisition requires a formal purchase contract/invoice, payment transfer, local tax registration (Municipality & KAT), and entering a fixed asset into the company's ledger. You also need to consider that  then triggers ongoing annual expenses (tax, insurance, MOT etc) thereby losing the company's inactive status for the entire period of the company's ownership of the vehicle. I imagine that many foreigners here simply ignore that and operate illegally by not declaring anything; all fine and dandy until the authorities find and come down like the proverbial ton of renovation materials - "ignorance of the law is no excuse".