In this article we will examine the different cases of registration under the Value Added Tax Act (the VAT Act) for taxable persons and entities established in another EU Member State. According to the Bulgarian VAT Act, there are two types of registrations - mandatory and voluntary.
I. Mandatory registration
Under the VAT Act the following basic cases of mandatory registration for taxable persons established in other EU Member States can be distinguished:
1. Mandatory registration for the supply of goods requiring assembly and installation (Art. 97, para. 1 of the VAT Act)
Any person established in the territory of another Member State who carries out a taxable supply of goods which are installed or assembled within the country for or on his behalf, is obliged to register for VAT purposes in Bulgaria. The exception is where the recipients of the supplies are registered under this Act.
The application for registration must be submitted by the person no later than 7 days before the chargeable event (date of performance of the service, date of transfer of ownership of the goods, date of transfer of the goods themselves, etc.).
2. Mandatory registration for supplies of services on which the tax is payable by the recipient (Art. 97a of the VAT Act)
Any taxable person receiving services with a place of supply in the country that are taxable and for which the tax is payable by the recipient of Art. 82, para 2, is obliged to register for VAT purposes in Bulgaria. Any taxable person established in the country and providing services under Art. 21, para. 2 of the VAT Act with a place of supply on the territory of another Member State, is obliged to register for VAT purposes in Bulgaria.
The application for registration must be submitted by the person no later than 7 days before the date on which the tax becomes chargeable (advance payment or chargeable event), where the taxable base of the service received is subject to taxation.
A person who is registered on grounds of this article and for whom the grounds for mandatory registration under Art. 96, 97, 98 and 99 or voluntary registration under Art. 100, para. 1, 2 and 3 are applicable, shall be registered according to the procedure and the terms for mandatory registration or voluntary registration.
3. Mandatory registration for the supply of telecommunications services, radio and television broadcasting or electronic services (Art. 97b, para. 1 of the VAT Act)
Any person established in another Member State who delivers electronic telecommunication services, radio and tv broadcasting services is obliged to register for VAT purposes, if the recipients of the services are not registered under the Act and are established in the country.
The person is not obliged to register, if it has already registered on mandatory or voluntary grounds under any of the other articles of the Act, including where the regimes in or outside the EU are applicable.
The application for registration must be submitted by the 10th day of the month following the month in which the first supply of services was carried out.
4. Mandatory registration is case of distanced sellof goods (Art. 98 para. 1 of the VAT Act)
Any person selling goods remotely where the place of performance is on the territory of the country has the obligation to register for VAT. there is.
Any person who carries out distanced sales of goods with a place of supply on the territory of the country is obliged to register under the VAT Act. According to Art.14 of the VAT Act, a distanced sale of goods is the supply of goods for which the following conditions are met:
- The goods are sent or transported by or on behalf of the supplier from the territory of a Member State other than the one in which the transport ends;
- The supplier of the goods is registered for VAT purposes in a Member State other than the one in which the transport ends;
- The recipient of the supply is a person who is not obliged to charge VAT on intra-Community acquisition of goods in the Member State where the transport ends;
- The goods:
1)are not new vehicles;
2) are not assembled and/or installed by or on behalf of the supplier;
3)are not subject to special arrangements for taxing the margin of second hand goods, works of art, collectors' items and antiques.
Where goods delivered, sent or transported from a third country or territory and imported by the supplier in a Member State other than the one in which the transport to the recipient ends, it is assumed that the goods are dispatched or transported from the Member State of importation.
The registration obligation arises when deliveries under distance selling for territory exceed for the current calendar year or have exceeded for the previous calendar year the sum of BGN 70,000.
The application for VAT registration must be submitted not later than seven days before the date of the delivery with which the total turnover will exceed the sum of BGN.
5. Mandatory registration for intra-Community acquisitions (Art. 99, para. 1 of the VAT Act)
Any person who carries out intra-Community acquisitions of goods and is not registered on mandatory or voluntary grounds under any of the other articles of the Act, must register under the VAT Act.
Such an obligation arises only when the total value of taxable intra-Community acquisitions for the current calendar year exceeds BGN 20,000. The application for registration must be filed not later than 7 days before the date of occurrence of the transaction, which exceeds the above threshold.
II. Voluntary registration
The following cases of voluntary registration can be distinguished:
1. Voluntary registration for distanced sale of goods (Art. 100, para. 3 of the VAT Act)
The person carrying out distanced sale of goods may apply for VAT registration before reaching a total turnover of supplies equal to BGN 70,000. This is done after informing the revenue authority at the place where the person is registered for VAT purposes that they want the place of their supplies to be the territory of the country.
2. Voluntary registration for intra-Community acquisitions (Art. 100, para. 2 of the VAT Act)
Any person who has not reached the turnover for mandatory registration when carrying out intra-Community acquisitions (BGN 20 000) may apply for VAT registration.
Any taxable person or entity for which there are no conditions for mandatory VAT registration, may at any time register under the conditions for voluntary registration under Art. 100, para. 1 of the VAT Act.
III. Registration procedure
The registration is carried out by the person who is obliged or entitled to be registered by submitting a registration application form to the competent territorial directorate of the National Revenue Agency (Art. 101, para. 1 of the VAT Act).
The application shall be submitted:
- in person, where the taxable person is an individual or a sole trader,
- by a person with representative power by law, where the taxable person is a legal person or a cooperative,
- by a person with representative power under the articles of association, where the taxable person is an unincorporated company or insurance fund,
- by an accredited representative,
- by a person expressly authorized to do so by the persons under p. 1, 2, 3 and 4 with a notarized power of attorney.
The application may be filed electronically under the Tax and Social Security Procedure Code. It must contain the grounds for registration. The application must be accompanied by the documents specified in the Regulations for Implementation of the VAT Act. If the person has indicated an e-mail address for correspondence to the Registry Agency, the application must indicate such an address. When changing the e-mail address, the revenue authority must be notified within 7 days, unless the change is made by filing for registration at the Registry Agency.
Within 7 days of receipt of the application, the revenue authority examines the grounds for registration. When the revenue authority has demanded collateral under Art. 176a, there is a deadline for performance of an inspection within 30 days of filing the application for registration. Within 7 days of the completion of the inspection under para. 6, the revenue authority issues an act, by which it accepts or refuses to carry out the registration. The mandatory registration under Articles 97, 97a, 97b, 98 and 99 is performed by the revenue authority within three days of filing the application for registration. The date of registration is the date on which the order for registration is served (Art. 103, para. 1 of the VAT Act).
The author of this article, Mr. Martin Iliev, is a tax consultant and managing partner of Germania OOD, the accountant firm at Law Firm Ruskov and Coll. in Sofia.