Just as you are registered with us under your Birth Number, you will be issued a personal identification number – BULSTAT – in Bulgaria.
When you buy a property in Bulgaria you will encounter that in addition to the Notarial Deed which serves as our Title Deed you will also receive a Bulstat number issued by us. This is issued to each person who is listed on the Notarial Deed.
Once the purchase process has been completed and the Notarial Deed has been issued, the new owners must register with the Registration Agency under the Bulstat Registration Act.
This legal obligation must be fulfilled within 7 working days from the date of the transfer of ownership to you, which took place at the Notary’s office, otherwise fines from 350 Euros upwards are payable.
It is therefore very important to deal with the Bulstat number on time and to keep it, as you will pay taxes with it every year.
Our real estate agency registers and issues the Bulstat number using a Power of Attorney, which you have granted to the lawyer who represented you in the whole process of buying the property remotely. So you do not need to do anything for this, we will handle the registration and Bulstat number for you.
The reason why Bulstat registration is necessary is because it is not possible to identify foreign individuals in Bulgaria who are not permanent residents of the country. According to Bulgarian law, every property owner must declare their acquired property in order to be able to pay taxes on it. For this purpose, the property owner needs identification in Bulgaria.
The Bulstat number provides this identification and allows you to pay all taxes whether it is the Property Sales Tax, the annual Property Tax and also the Profit Tax in case of a subsequent sale, if you sell the property earlier than 3 years after the acquisition.
It is also important to note that if you also own more than one property in Bulgaria, they are all registered under this one Bulstat number only in the acquired property.
How and where can I pay my Property Tax
You are exempt from paying tax for the first year of ownership of your property, but you need to check whether the tax was paid by the previous owner in that calendar year. We do this check for our clients. Thereafter, it must be paid in each subsequent calendar year.
The annual property tax varies according to the area where your property is located. Generally, it works out to 0.01% – 0.45%.
Annual tax can be paid at exchange offices and Easy Pay kiosks at any time throughout the calendar year. A stranger can pay it for you, as long as they show your Bulstat number.
Wherever these EasyPay kiosks are located, follow this link: https://www.easypay.bg/site/en/?p=offices_list
The EasyPay kiosk will tell you the amount of tax to pay based on your Bulstat number, so there is no need to file a tax return.
What can all be paid at Easypay windows: utility bills (electricity, water, heating, mobile, internet etc…) you can pay them at any of the EasyPay branches.
Taxes are low and easy and convenient to pay, and at any time of the calendar year. The whole process is very simple, what can you say ? 🙂
