Important Topic You May Have Missed

Yes. This is completely right. Each company must prepares:

a Protocol of the decision of the Sole owner or the General assembly of the shareholders (EOOD or OOD/AD)

updates Articles with change of the currency from BGN to EUR, made according to the rules of the exchange.

The conversion from levs to euros shall be carried out by dividing the numerical value in levs by the full numerical value of the official exchange rate, expressed in six digits with all five decimal places, i.e. by 1.95583, and the resulting amount shall be rounded to the second decimal place based on the third digit.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 974/98, the values indicated in levs in existing legal instruments shall be considered as values in euros when applying the official exchange rate and the rules for conversion under Article 12 and, respectively, for rounding under Article 13 or under the special rounding rules provided for in this Act.

In the most common cases of OOD - If the conversion affects the rights of the partners and this requires a change of no more than 5% of the subscribed capital, the partners may adopt a decision to change the capital under a simplified procedure. The partners may adopt a decision to amend the partnership agreement, and the rules of the Commercial Act for increasing and decreasing the capital shall not apply (Art. 32, para. 5 ZVERB).

There are no state fees for this announcing, but some lawyers fees can occur.

The deadline is 31.12.2026. After that if the changes are not active there should be huge fines.

You may update the Subject of this article with more clear name, to be easily seen by everyone.

In case it's not already obvious, the Registered Capital of your company is NOT the same as the value of your house...

*sigh* There's always something!

The registered capital of my company is a whole 12 BGN.

So is this the correct form to update? https://portal.registryagency.bg/CR/en/services/198

Of course, the link is blocked. Who knows the danger linking to a Bulgarian government site might cause!

I saw it's only usable by someone with an official electronic signature, anyway.

@janemulberry

I believe that you MAY be able to go in person, with ID and the company documents, but it's a lot easier online, indeed only with your electronic signature. Note that you can get one - even as a foreign resident - in the name of your company (for the Commercial Registry etc al), or as an individual. Alternatively, just get your lawyer/accountant to do it and forget about it....

In case anyone's wondering - the registered capital of the company was automatically converted by the Registry on January 1st but you still need a "protocol" showing the official decision of the company director(s).

FYI, my company's registered capital is a princely €1.02...😁

Thanks for the extra info! I will never understand why government departments like making so much extra work for themselves -- and everyone else!

@janemulberry

I'd be more concerned if the government took unilateral decisions about how my company operated without my knowledge or agreement. This way, our signatures are on the company record and there's no argument about whether we agreed or not (if we don't, we can always wind the company up). There are around 1.5 million small enterprises registered here in BG and it would be hugely expensive and time-consuming if the government were to attempt to do it - not to mention that Bulgarians are nearly as litigious as Americans, even though no one actually trusts the courts...😎

True. Even such a small  seemingly insignificant change, when emotions are still running high about the currency change.

Hubby is in Bg now. None of the shops or buses will accept Euro notes, because they don't have enough coins to make change in Euro.

I have a huge box of 2 leva coins in my car - the local supermarkets are dreading seeing me these days. 😂

Your local shops/buses are taking the p*ss - it's illegal for them to refuse to take euros or leva until the end of January 31st, at which time the lev is out of circulation. It's still legal for the shops etc to give you change in leva, but ONLY if they can prove if challenged that they don't have any euro coins - otherwise they are obliged to give you change in euros, regardless of which currency you used to pay. Giving "mixed change" is banned.

The shopkeepers and bus drivers could be being bloody-minded about accepting euros, but I do believe it's also entirely possible that enough coins haven't filtered through to smaller shops in regions, more remote from the cities. https://www.novinite.com/articles/23626 … hange+Cash

This article is two weeks old now, so the situation should have improved considerably, but it does support what the shopkeepers say. Even the T Market in town says they don't have enough euro coins to make change so please pay by card if possible.

Edited to add -- the village post office also has no euro coins, only notes. She says she ran out of coins very fast and doesn't know when more will be sent.

Of course, the link is blocked. Who knows the danger linking to a Bulgarian government site might cause!
I saw it's only usable by someone with an official electronic signature, anyway. - @janemulberry

Hello,

Please note that the link is now visible.

Some links need validation when they are posted a 1st time.

Regards

Bhavna

@JimJ

Good Morning JimJ,

Can you clarify what document you mean? I only have paperwork/contract to show I am the owner of the company and property, what other paperwork will I need? As far as I know, I don't have a bank account as I purchased a pre-owned company that had already been established.

Also will this be able to be completed by myself? or would I need an accountant / lawyer to complete on my behalf (I don't speak or read/write Bulgarian).

Thanks

@CarlS1986

I'm not sure which document/circumstances you're referring to...

Carl, changing the company paperwork for the change of  it's registered capital to EUR requires the ability to electronically sign documents in the official business register https://portal.registryagency.bg/en/home-cr

I believe anyone can apply for an electronic signature, and the site translates nicely into English. But for a one-off thing like this it might be easier to pay an accountant or lawyer. I'm doing mine through the agent I bought the house from (for a fee).

I saw someone offering that service and asking €200 for it. For something that seemed pretty simple it appeared pricey to me?

Getting a professional involved in almost anything official costs money - you're not only paying for how long it takes them to do the job but also how long it took them to learn how to do it properly.

I remember when you could get what in the UK you'd call a General Labourer to put in a day's work here for 10 leva but those days are long gone. Lawyers and accountants have overheads and have put in a lot of work just to earn the right to hang their shingle. Current average rates nowadays are €60-120/hour for mid-range lawyers and €40-60 for accountants  (higher in Sofia or for specialised services). €200 isn't a fortune to get the job done properly and to avoid being fined.

With every kind of service, the old adage applies: "Pay peanuts, get monkeys". As I used to tell my clients: you're not paying me to kick your computer - anyone can do that. What you're paying me for is knowing where to kick it... 😎

The agent who helped me set up the company is offering to do this for their clients for €150. I thought it was quite a lot for what will surely be a quick and easy task for the person doing it.

But as it probably won't be at all quick and easy for me to work out how to DIY it, I paid. Unlike something that will be repeated, where I would learn to do it myself rather than keep paying every time, hopefully this is a one-off. So I chose to pay rather than to invest time into it.

I'm one of those that would rather pay a little extra to ensure its done correctly the first time and there is no comeback to myself, especially when its something I have no understanding of.

@janemulberry

Unfortunately my agent, whilst he is a nice guy, and helpful, it takes him many months to do the basic things, it takes days (a week isn't uncommon) to get a reply to messages sometimes it can be as long as 3 months, so when it comes to ensuring I don't get a fine for failure to update company records, I will look for a professional to carry out the task and pay for their services.

Now I just need to find someone reliable, any recommendations?

@CarlS1986

I can recommend my lawyer in Sofia, if you're interested. He's not expensive, and he gets things done quickly and efficiently.  Drop me a PM if you want details.