Bulgaria – Import VAT reverse charge effective 1 July 2019

5 February 2019

From 1 July 2019, Bulgaria will introduce a deferred import VAT scheme for all businesses registered for VAT in the country.

Any business wishing to use the scheme will need to apply to the Bulgarian tax authorities for authorisation and once accepted, it will remove the requirement to pay import VAT when goods are cleared into the country.  Instead the VAT will be deferred to the businesses’ VAT return.

This should result in savings on shipping costs and bank charges for the companies who import goods on a regular basis, as well as improve their cash flow as they will no longer have to wait for import VAT to be refunded by the Bulgarian tax authorities.