# VAT number in Bulgaria for an online store: €51,130 threshold and VIES How an online store gets a VAT number in Bulgaria: the €51,130 threshold, the 7-day deadline, voluntary registration, foreign companies and VIES checks. Source: https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/vat-registration-online-store · CloudCart · 2026-11-06 In short: an online store established in Bulgaria must register for VAT and get a Bulgarian VAT number once its turnover for the calendar year exceeds €51,130, a rule in force since Jan 1, 2026. You file the application with the NRA within 7 days, and the registration starts the next day. Below the threshold, registration is voluntary. A foreign company that sells in Bulgaria registers before its first taxable sale here. You check a customer's EU VAT number in VIES. This guide is written by the team behind CloudCart, the Bulgarian ecommerce platform, for foreign founders, expats and companies that sell online in Bulgaria or ship from Bulgaria across the EU. The rules come from the [Bulgarian VAT Act on lex.bg (in Bulgarian)](https://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2135533201), as amended from Jan 1, 2026, and the [VAT registration page of the NRA (in Bulgarian)](https://nra.bg/wps/portal/nra/taxes/dds-v-balgariya/registratsiya-po-zdds), Bulgaria's National Revenue Agency. It is not tax advice: your accountant confirms your case. ## What is the VAT registration threshold in Bulgaria in 2026? The mandatory VAT registration threshold in Bulgaria is €51,130 of domestic turnover in a calendar year. It is set in Art. 96(1) of the VAT Act and applies from Jan 1, 2026 to every taxable person established in Bulgaria: an EOOD or OOD (limited liability companies), an ET (sole trader) and individuals who trade. With the same change, turnover is counted per calendar year, from January 1 to December 31, instead of the previous rolling 12 months. Below the threshold, in both the current and the previous year, you use the domestic small enterprise scheme (Art. 168d) automatically, without applying for it. A store that exceeded €51,130 in 2025 without registering had to be registered as of Jan 1, 2026 (transitional provisions, State Gazette No. 115 of 2025). If that is you, talk to your accountant now. | Rule | From Jan 1, 2026 | VAT Act | | Threshold for mandatory registration | €51,130 of domestic turnover per calendar year | Art. 96(1); Art. 168d(2) | | Period for counting turnover | The calendar year | Art. 168c(1) | | Deadline for the application | 7 days from the day the threshold is exceeded | Art. 96(6)(1) | | Date of registration | The day after the threshold is exceeded | Art. 103(1) | | Voluntary registration | No threshold and no deadline; starts on the day the act is served | Art. 100(1); Art. 103(3) | | Purchases of goods from other EU countries | Registration once they exceed €10,000 in the year | Art. 99(2) and (3) | | Fine for not filing (company or ET) | €255.65 to €2,556.46 (BGN 500 to 5,000 in the text of the law) | Art. 178(1) | Important: the amounts in Art. 178 are still in leva in the text of the law. The euro amounts in the table are converted at the fixed rate of 1.95583 and rounded to the cent. ## Does a foreign company need a Bulgarian VAT number? A company that is not established in Bulgaria has no turnover threshold: it registers for VAT in Bulgaria before VAT becomes chargeable on its first taxable supply here, and applies at least 7 days in advance (Art. 96(3) for EU companies, Art. 96(4) for companies outside the EU). The NRA registers it within 3 days of the application. The €51,130 threshold is only for businesses established in Bulgaria. What decides is where the business is set up: an EOOD registered in Bulgaria is a Bulgarian company, even with a foreign owner, and follows the threshold. | Your situation | When you need a Bulgarian VAT number | | Bulgarian EOOD, OOD or ET, any owner | When domestic turnover exceeds €51,130 in the calendar year, or earlier by choice | | Company from another EU country with taxable supplies in Bulgaria | Before the first taxable supply, applying at least 7 days in advance, unless the sale falls under OSS or the customer accounts for the VAT | | EU company using the EU SME scheme in Bulgaria | When it exceeds the Bulgarian threshold or €100,000 of EU-wide turnover (Art. 96(2)) | | Company outside the EU | Before the first taxable supply in Bulgaria; an accredited representative in Bulgaria is usually required (Art. 133) | The EU SME scheme lets a small business with EU-wide turnover under €100,000 apply the VAT exemption in other EU countries too. You register once in your home country and receive an EX number to use in each country where you apply the scheme, as explained on [Your Europe, the EU's official guide for businesses](https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/taxation/vat/vat-exemptions/index_en.htm). Setting up the business is covered in the guide to [company registration in Bulgaria](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/company-registration-online-store). ## How is turnover counted for VAT registration? Turnover for VAT registration is the sum of the taxable amounts of your sales in Bulgaria from January 1 to today (Art. 168c(1)), including intra-community supplies of goods. ### What counts towards an online store's turnover - Every sales channel. Orders from the website, sales through eMAG Marketplace (a large marketplace in Bulgaria and Romania), in a physical shop and by phone are all your supplies and add up to one turnover. - The delivery the customer pays. Under Art. 26(3)(3), transport and packaging charged to the customer are part of the taxable amount of the sale. If you charge €4.90 for the courier, that €4.90 counts. - Advance payments. Prepaid orders count towards turnover (Art. 168c(8)). ### What does not count - Selling fixed assets you used in the business, such as the old office laptop (Art. 168c(2)(2)). - Distance sales to consumers in other EU countries , if you are registered for them under the Union OSS scheme (One Stop Shop, the EU's single VAT return for cross-border sales to consumers) or for VAT in the customer's country (Art. 168c(7)). You compare the running total with the threshold day by day. In CloudCart, sales are in Analytics, grouped by day and month, with export to CSV. > A store run with an AI assistant Your turnover since January 1 in one sentence Connect Claude Code or ChatGPT Codex to the store with a read-only PAT token and write: "Add up the paid orders since January 1 and tell me how much is left to €51,130". The assistant reads the orders and returns the total and the gap to the threshold. How to connect the AI assistant → ## Mandatory VAT registration: deadline and steps For mandatory VAT registration, you file the application within 7 days of the day your turnover exceeded €51,130 (Art. 96(6)(1)). The registration is dated the next day (Art. 103(1)), whenever the NRA issues the act. Your sales from that date are subject to VAT. ### An example with numbers An online coffee store reaches €51,400 with the orders of October 18, so the threshold is exceeded that day. The registration date is October 19, and the last day to file is October 25. Invoices for sales from October 19 are issued within 5 days after the act is served (Art. 113(4)). - Track turnover from January 1. The sum of the taxable amounts from every channel, with the delivery you charge. Set a warning level around €45,000. - Note the day you exceed it. It is the day of the sale that takes the total over €51,130. The 7 days run from then. - File the application with the NRA. On the official form, at the regional NRA office or online through the NRA e-services portal with a qualified electronic signature. You state the ground and its date (Art. 101(4)) and attach the turnover statement. - Prepare the store. Prices, VAT rate and invoice details, following the steps below. - Receive the act and the VAT number. A Bulgarian VAT number is BG followed by the company's UIC (company ID) or the individual's personal number (Art. 94(2)), so it has 9 or 10 digits after BG. Enter it in the store's invoice details. - File a VAT return every month. By the 14th of the following month, together with the purchase and sales ledgers (Art. 125(5)), also in months with no sales (Art. 125(4)). Important: if you do not file on time, the NRA registers you on its own initiative (Art. 102). VAT is due on sales from the date you should have been registered, and the late application is fined under Art. 178. ## Voluntary VAT registration: when is it worth it? Voluntary VAT registration (in the law, "registration by choice") is open to every business below the €51,130 threshold (Art. 100(1)). There is no deadline, and the registration starts on the day the act is served (Art. 103(3)). A new company can request it at registration in the Commercial Register (Art. 100(5)). | Question | Not registered (small enterprise scheme) | VAT-registered | | Price for consumers | No VAT, usually lower | With 20% VAT (Art. 66(1)) | | VAT on your purchases (stock, advertising, equipment) | Not deductible, stays a cost | Deducted as input VAT (Art. 72) | | Invoice to a business | Without VAT; showing VAT is prohibited (Art. 113(9)) | With VAT, which the business deducts | | Sale to a business in another EU country | No zero rate for an intra-community supply | Zero rate with a valid VAT number and transport documents (Art. 7 and Art. 53) | | Monthly work | No VAT return | VAT return and ledgers by the 14th | Voluntary registration usually pays off when you sell mostly to businesses or buy a lot of stock and advertising with VAT; with consumers, prices rise by 20% or the margin shrinks. Work out both options with your real purchases from the last 3 months before you decide. ## What changes in your store after VAT registration? After VAT registration, prices, documents and monthly reporting change. From the registration date every sale in Bulgaria carries VAT: the standard rate is 20% (Art. 66(1)), and books, baby food and baby nappies are at 9% (Art. 66a). ### Prices: do you keep the amount the customer pays? If you keep a €60 price after registration, it contains €10 of VAT and you keep €50, 16.7% less revenue. To keep €60, the price has to become €72. | Price in the store | Taxable amount (yours) | VAT 20% | Change in revenue | | €60 (unchanged) | €50.00 | €10.00 | -16.7% | | €66 (+10%) | €55.00 | €11.00 | -8.3% | | €72 (+20%) | €60.00 | €12.00 | no change | For the margin calculation it helps that CloudCart takes [no commission on your sales](https://cloudcart.com/en/offer/zero-commission-ecommerce), and card payments through [CloudCart Pay](https://cloudcart.com/en/cloudcart-pay) have a 0% transaction fee through Dec 31, 2026. ### Documents: invoice, sales receipt, XML file The invoice of a VAT-registered seller shows its VAT number, the taxable amount, the rate and the VAT in euro (Art. 114), issued within 5 days of the sale (Art. 113(4)). If you accept cards under the alternative regime of Ordinance N-18 (Bulgaria's sales-reporting rules for online stores), the sales receipt and the monthly XML file for the NRA also show the amount without VAT and the VAT of each order. How they are created in the admin is covered in the guides to [invoices and credit notes in CloudCart](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/invoices-n18) and [Ordinance N-18 for online stores](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/n18-online-store-nap). > Invoices and Ordinance N-18 Your VAT number goes on every invoice from the order You enter the VAT number once in the issuer details. The invoice and the credit note are created from the order with the taxable amount and VAT, and the N-18 app builds the monthly XML file with sales and refunds. How invoices and N-18 work → ### Steps in the CloudCart admin - The issuer details. Settings → Invoicing: enter the company's VAT number with the BG prefix. It is printed exactly as entered, so compare it with the NRA act. - The VAT rule. Settings → Taxes and fees: add a tax for VAT, rate 20%, with a zone that covers Bulgaria (or a global rule). For books or baby products, add an exception for that category in the same rule at 9%. - VAT included or added. In the same rule, choose whether prices include VAT and whether VAT also applies to delivery. For consumers, the usual choice is VAT included: in retail sales, the law treats the tax as included in the displayed price (Art. 67(3)). - The text for zero VAT. If you sell to businesses in other EU countries, fill in the rule's text for the reason VAT is not charged. It is printed on invoices with zero VAT. For sales to consumers in other EU countries, the €10,000 threshold for distance sales also applies (Art. 20b). Above it, VAT is charged at the rate of the customer's country, usually through OSS, which in CloudCart is switched on in the VAT rule (the "One Stop Shop" switch is visible when the rule targets a zone, not when it is global). How OSS works is explained in the guide to [OSS and VAT on EU cross-border sales](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/oss-eu-vat-cross-border-sales). Selling abroad is covered in the guides to [cross-border ecommerce in the EU](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/cross-border-ecommerce-eu) and a [multilanguage store](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/multilanguage-multicurrency-multistore). ## How to check a VAT number in VIES, and why A VIES check shows whether a VAT number is valid for trade between EU countries at the moment you check. VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is the European Commission's search engine for VAT registrations. Each query goes in real time to the database of the issuing country. You run the check on the [European Commission's VIES website](https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/). - Choose the country. The country that issued the number, not the country of delivery. - Enter the number. Without spaces or dashes. Bulgarian numbers are BG plus 9 or 10 digits. Greece uses the prefix EL. - Enter your own VAT number too. Then the answer comes with a consultation number. Keep it: it shows the tax authority that you checked the number on that date. - Compare the name and address. It should match the company on the order; some countries show "---" instead. If the number comes back invalid, ask the customer to check the characters and the prefix. A registered company's number can show as invalid if it is not activated for intra-EU transactions, and only its own tax authority can fix that. While the number is invalid, the sale is invoiced with VAT. VIES matters when you sell to a business in another EU country. The zero rate for an intra-community supply (Art. 7 and Art. 53) needs you to be VAT-registered, the customer's valid VAT number from another member state and transport documents showing the goods left Bulgaria. The invoice for an intra-community supply is issued by the 15th of the following month (Art. 113(5)), and with the monthly VAT return you also file a VIES return (Art. 125(2)). ### VIES checks at checkout in CloudCart In Settings → Cart and checkout, in the company details, there is a switch for validating the VAT number from the VIES service. When it is on and a customer enters a VAT number, the number is checked when the order is placed. If VIES rejects it, the order is not accepted until the customer enters a valid number. It also runs when a billing address is saved, and the result is kept for 7 days. For a business in another EU country with a valid number, VAT on the order is zero and the invoice shows the reason text you filled in the VAT rule. A VIES outage can also block orders with a correct number. More on company orders is on the [B2B online store](https://cloudcart.com/en/b2b) page. > €1 for 3 months The full plan for €1/month for the first 3 months Invoices, VAT rules, VIES checks and N-18 are in every plan, from Baby Pack up. New stores through Dec 31, 2026 pay €1/month for the first 3 months, and the transaction fee is 0% on every plan . What the €1 store includes → ## VAT registration mistakes that cost money The most common mistakes: - Counting turnover by the old rules. Since 2026 it is the calendar year, not the last 12 months. - VAT on an invoice without registration. A seller that is not registered may not show VAT on its invoices (Art. 113(9)). - Assuming the threshold covers a foreign company. A company that is not established in Bulgaria registers before its first taxable supply here, not at €51,130. For the store settings, write to [support@cloudcart.com](https://cloudcart.commailto:support@cloudcart.com). How prices are worked out in euro, and the rounding after dual display ended, is covered in the guide to [euro prices in an online store](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/euro-prices-online-store). ## Frequently asked questions **What is the VAT registration threshold in Bulgaria in 2026?** The threshold is €51,130 of domestic turnover per calendar year, under Art. 96(1) of the VAT Act, in force since Jan 1, 2026. It applies to businesses established in Bulgaria. Below it, registration is voluntary. **How do I get a VAT number in Bulgaria?** You file a VAT registration application with the NRA, at a regional office or online through the NRA e-services portal with a qualified electronic signature. The NRA issues a registration act, and your VAT number is BG followed by your company ID (UIC) or personal number. **What is the deadline for VAT registration in Bulgaria?** Within 7 days of the date your turnover exceeded €51,130 (Art. 96(6)(1)). A foreign company applies at least 7 days before its first taxable supply in Bulgaria. **Does a foreign company need to register for VAT in Bulgaria?** Yes, if it makes taxable supplies in Bulgaria and is not established here: there is no threshold, and it registers before the first taxable supply (Art. 96(3) and (4)). A Bulgarian EOOD with a foreign owner is a Bulgarian company and follows the €51,130 threshold. **Does CloudCart check the customer's VAT number in VIES?** Yes, if you turn on VIES validation in Settings → Cart and checkout. The VAT number is then checked at checkout and when a billing address is saved, and an order with an invalid number is not accepted. For an EU business with a valid number, VAT on the order is zero. [Create a store for €1](https://cloudcart.com/en/offer/online-store-for-1-euro) and set up invoices, VAT and VIES checks on day one.