We are often seized by our English-speaking clients with the question how to issue invoices of their Bulgarian companies and what contents should these have. For this reason, we would like to shed light upon this issue in the following article. Due to the changes in the legal framework after the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, the former types of invoices – invoices with VAT included and simplified invoices without VAT- were overruled. Starting January 12007 there is only one standard term for accounting documents - Invoice. The Required attributes of the invoice are regulated in detail in article 114 subparagraph 1 of the Bulgarian VAT Act. In summary these are:

1. Labeling of the invoice as such;
2. Standard serial ten-digit number;
3. Date of issue;
4. Name and address of the invoicing party;
5. Uniform identification code the invoicing party;
6. 6. name of the invoice issuer;
7. Name and address of the invoice recipient;
8. VAT identification number of the invoice recipient (important for intra-Community services and deliveries between companies, so that the Bulgarian VAT does not accrue). For Bulgarian customers, both the customer's tax number and VAT number should be provided;
9. For the sale of goods - the quantity and type of product, the unit price and the total price, for services - the description of the service;
10. The date of the chargeable event - delivery or the date on which the payment has been received;
11. Price without VAT and the tax assessment base for the delivery;
12. Sales tax/VAT rate, and if it amount to zero - the reason for this tax assessment;
13. Amount of sales tax;
14. Die Art der Zahlung - bar oder per Überweisung und im zweiten Schritt – die Bankdaten;
15. In cases of intra-Community supply of “new” vehicles – under the terms of the VAT Act it must be established that the date of their delivery is not later than 6 months after the first registration of the vehicles, or that they have not been driven for more than 6000 km.

The preparation and issue of invoices is described in details in Articles 78 and 79 of the Regulation for the implementation of VAT Act. The invoice written form must include the following attributes:

1. serial number;
2. The term "original" in the first copy;
3. Name and identification number of the person issuing the invoice;
4. VAT identification number in accordance with Article 94, § 2 of the Bulgarian VAT Act.

Invoices can be issued on paper or in electronic form. In both cases it is required to prepare duplicate copies - the original is for the customer and at least one for the invoicing party. Indispensable prerequisite for the issuance of invoices in electronic form is the possibility to prove the authenticity of the document. The electronic signature of the issuer must be replaced with the Uniform identification code if necessary.

Positing of the details of the invoice

The sales tax law does not contain specific provisions on the positing of the details of an invoice. According to the VAT Act and the Regulation for implementation each company can issue its own copy of its invoices, as far as they contain all the required information listed above.

In which language should the invoices be issued?

All primary accounting documents must be prepared in Bulgarian language with Arabic numerals (Article 3 of the Accounting Act). All monetary amounts must be estimated in BGN (Bulgarian currency). They can be issued into a foreign language and foreign currency, but in this case they must be accompanied by a copy in Bulgarian language.

How are the invoices to be numbered?

According to the wording of Article 78 § 2, 3 and 4 of the Regulation for the implementation of the VAT Act the invoices´ serial numbers must be ten digits long, written down without gaps between them. They must always start with the number 0000000001.

What kind of invoices shall a company issue, if it has not been registered according to the VAT Act, and in which cases VAT is not going to be assessed?

Every taxable person has to issue invoices regardless of the fact whether he is registered or not according to the VAT Act. With the amendments of the VAT Act from 01.01.2007 the forms for registered and unregistered companies are identical.

As an attachment we have uploaded an invoice sample that could be customized for the needs of your company in Bulgaria: Download Excel