Before you start

LNCh and residence card
Determination of Bulgarian tax residence
Employer payroll registration, or NRA registration if self-employed
Records of foreign income and assets

Step-by-step

1
Establish whether you are a Bulgarian tax resident
Bulgaria applies the usual tests — permanent address, centre of vital interests, and presence over 183 days in any twelve-month period. Residence brings worldwide income into scope. Get this determined explicitly if you have income elsewhere.
OnlineWho: You
2
Let payroll handle it if you are an employee
Employers withhold the 10% and the employee's share of social contributions and file monthly. Most employees have no annual filing obligation at all — the employer's year-end reconciliation covers it.
Via employerWho: You
3
File the annual return if you have income outside employment
Rental income, freelance income, capital gains and foreign income go on the annual return, filed online through the NRA portal with a spring deadline. There is a discount for filing and paying early online.
OnlineWho: YouSpring deadline
4
Model the social contributions if you are self-employed
Self-employed people pay social and health contributions on a declared insurable income between a statutory minimum and maximum, reconciled annually against actual profit. This, not the 10% tax, is the number that determines whether Bulgarian self-employment is cheap for you.
OnlineWho: You
5
Use the euro figures, not converted lev ones
Thresholds, minimum and maximum insurable incomes and allowances are now published in euro. A lev figure from a guide written before 2026 converts to roughly the right amount but not necessarily the exact figure now applied.
OnlineWho: You
6
Check whether a treaty covers your foreign income
Bulgaria has a wide double tax treaty network. Because the domestic rate is so low, foreign income is often taxed more heavily abroad than here, and the treaty determines which country gets the first bite. This is where advice is worth paying for.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

LNCh and residence card
Annual income certificate from the employer
NRA online portal credentials
Records of foreign income and assets
Insurable income declarations, if self-employed

Things most newcomers don’t know

The 10% is the whole story for employees, which is genuinely rare in Europe.

There are no bands, no surcharge, no municipal add-on and no allowance that phases out. Ten per cent of taxable income, and employee social contributions of roughly a seventh of gross on top. Compare that with Romania, where the same 10% headline sits on 35% of employee contributions, or Slovenia, where the top marginal rate is 50%. Bulgaria's simplicity is not marketing; the calculation you do on the back of an envelope is close to the real one.

Source: Bulgarian National Revenue Agency

For the self-employed, the insurable income declaration matters more than the tax rate.

Bulgarian self-employed people choose a declared insurable income between a statutory floor and ceiling, pay social and health contributions on it monthly, and reconcile annually against actual profit. Declaring at the minimum keeps monthly cost low and produces correspondingly low pension entitlement and sickness benefit; declaring higher costs more now. The 10% income tax is the small, predictable part of a Bulgarian freelancer's bill — the contributions are the decision.

Source: Bulgarian National Revenue Agency

Because Bulgaria's rate is so low, the double tax treaty usually decides where your foreign income is taxed.

In most countries a treaty exists to stop double taxation of income that would be taxed heavily in both places. With a 10% domestic rate, the more common Bulgarian question is whether the other country taxes first and by how much — and whether Bulgarian residence actually reduces your total bill at all. Anyone moving here specifically for the rate should model their particular income against the relevant treaty before assuming a 10% outcome.

Source: Bulgarian National Revenue Agency

Every published threshold is now a euro figure, and 2026 is the year that matters for this.

Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 at 1.95583 lev to the euro. Insurable income floors and ceilings, filing thresholds and fee schedules have all been restated. Converting an old lev figure gives you the right order of magnitude, but restated figures are frequently rounded, and some have been changed outright in the same legislation. Take the number from the NRA rather than from arithmetic.

Source: European Central Bank; Bulgarian National Revenue Agency

Common mistakes to avoid

Declaring the minimum insurable income for years and discovering what it did to pension and sickness entitlement.
Assuming a 10% domestic rate means a 10% total outcome on foreign income.
Working from lev thresholds converted by hand rather than the published euro figures.
Missing the early online filing discount on the annual return.
Letting health contributions lapse and suspending your treatment rights.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.