Forming a Bulgarian company remotely: the complete guide

What is a Bulgarian company?

A Bulgarian company is a legal entity registered with the Bulgarian Commercial Register (Targovski Registar), identified by an EIK number (the equivalent of the French SIREN). The most common form for an entrepreneur is the EOOD — a private limited company with a single shareholder — or the OOD when there are several shareholders.

The minimum share capital remains symbolic: it was set at 2 BGN and is now expressed in euros (about €1), since Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026.

In practice, your Bulgarian company is a genuine European company: it invoices, collects payments, hires, opens bank accounts and benefits from an intra-Community VAT number. The EOOD (or the OOD with several shareholders) remains the classic form. But for a 100% remote formation, with no capital deposit or prior bank account, the DPK/EDPK is often the simplest choice — see EOOD, OOD or DPK: which structure to choose.

The DPK/EDPK is, moreover, the most recent form in Bulgarian company law: it was designed for lightweight structures, with no capital deposit or prior banking step, which often makes it the most natural default option for a fully digital business run remotely (e-commerce, freelancing, SaaS). The EOOD remains relevant, but requires going through a Bulgarian bank beforehand: see EOOD, OOD or DPK: which structure to choose.

A few acronyms you will come across along the way:

• EIK — unique identifier at the Commercial Register (equivalent to the SIREN).
• BULSTAT — identification register for legal entities and similar bodies.
• NRA — the Bulgarian tax authority (National Revenue Agency).
• Aktualno Sastoyanie — the official up-to-date status extract for the company (equivalent to the French Kbis).
• FID — tax identification number issued to the non-resident foreign director.

Why Bulgaria?

Bulgaria combines an overall tax burden among the lowest in the European Union with all the advantages of the single market. Hungary does advertise a lower headline corporate tax rate (9%), but its taxation exceeds 20% once dividends are added in: Bulgaria therefore keeps the edge once profits are distributed.

The calculation is simple — 10% corporate tax, then between 0 and 5% on dividends (0% to an EU/EEA parent company, with no threshold or holding period — чл. 194, ал. 3, т. 3 ЗКПО; 5% paid to an individual), i.e. a combined burden of about 10 to 14.5% depending on the dividend rate on the distributed profit, with no local tax or surcharge. Three figures sum up the appeal:

Beyond the 10% corporate tax rate, it is the 5% dividends for an individual (чл. 46, ал. 3 ЗДДФЛ), or even 0% between European companies, that make the difference to the net income actually available.

Under Bulgarian law, the exemption from withholding tax on dividends paid to a parent company has neither a participation threshold nor a holding period: the only condition is that the recipient be a legal entity that is tax-resident in the EU/EEA (excluding hidden profit distributions).

The "10% / 2 years" minimums are those of Directive 2011/96/EU, which Bulgaria deliberately did not adopt as conditions, its domestic rule being more favourable. Basis: чл. 194, ал. 3, т. 3 ЗКПО → 0%.

A member of the EU since 2007 and of the euro area since 1 January 2026, Bulgaria gives your company frictionless access to the single market, to intra-Community VAT and to the European tax directives.

On the social-contributions side, the Bulgarian insurable income ceiling (осигурителен доход) is €2,111.64/month in 2026. Note: affiliation to the Bulgarian social security system is not automatic for a non-resident director.

Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 (arts. 11 and 13) requires a single applicable legislation: a director who runs the company from their country of residence is in principle covered by that country's social security, unless an A1 certificate designates Bulgaria. To be confirmed case by case.

Who is it for?

The remote Bulgarian company is aimed above all at online entrepreneurs whose activity is not tied to a physical point of sale in France:

The common thread: an activity that can be run remotely, where the company's location matters more than that of a business premises. See our dedicated guide Bulgarian company for the online entrepreneur.

How do you form your company, step by step?

Setting up an EOOD remotely follows a well-marked path. Here are the main steps:

1. Scoping — choice of form (EOOD/OOD), business purpose, name.
2. Notarised power of attorney — you appoint a local agent to sign on your behalf.
3. Capital deposit into a Bulgarian bank escrow account.
4. Registration with the Commercial Register → obtaining the EIK.
5. Foreign identification number (FID) and electronic-signature key (QES BORICA / B-Trust).
6. VAT registration with the Bulgarian authority (NRA).
7. Opening the accounts — bank and fintech (Wise, Airwallex, etc.).

The operational detail is covered in forming an EOOD 100% remotely: the steps.

How much does it cost?

Fenchell's Eurotrade pack brings together the complete set-up from €890 excl. VAT, followed by recurring running costs:

To be weighed against the gains: for a significant annual income, the tax gap between a Bulgarian EOOD and a French structure frequently exceeds several tens of thousands of euros net per year. To quantify that gain precisely, see the detail of dividend taxation (between 0 and 5%).

How do you handle VAT, bookkeeping and compliance?

A Bulgarian company active in e-commerce must handle European VAT correctly. Two regimes structure most cases:

• the OSS one-stop shop for intra-EU distance sales above a pan-EU threshold of €10,000 in annual turnover, and the IOSS for imports of low-value goods (consignments up to €150);
• the multi-country EU + UK VAT registrations for FBA stock or post-Brexit.

For import/export, the EORI number is indispensable. Fenchell relies on a partner Bulgarian accounting firm to manage returns and compliance.

What is economic substance, and how does it make the company genuinely operable?

This is the most important — and the most neglected — point. A low tax rate is worthless if the company is not genuinely operable remotely. A company that pays no tax but does not let you run an activity is of no use.

The real challenge is therefore not to form the company: it is to make it active and manageable from anywhere. A generic incorporation — whatever the country, Bulgaria, Hungary or Estonia — covers only one line of the equation: the legal set-up. Everything that subsequently makes the company genuinely workable is not anticipated.

This is where Fenchell's approach differs. The Eurotrade offer is not an incorporation to which options are added: it is an integrated, inseparable system. Each file contains more than 20 bilingual documents — more than 30 for multi-shareholder companies — including:

• the articles of association;
• the 8 bilingual Bulgarian/English notarised powers of attorney;
• the FID;
• the QES key;
• and the translated certificate.

All are designed by our legal team at the Plovdiv Bar — specifically for remote management, embodying years of experience and thousands of real client cases.

Operability is not bolted on afterwards: it is built in from the outset, within the file itself — a level of anticipation that a generic incorporation never provides.

In practice, the difference reads line by line. A generic registration covers only the first box; the Eurotrade pack covers the whole system needed to operate the company remotely:

A generic incorporation ticks the first line; everything else — what makes the company genuinely operable from abroad — is left on your plate. The Eurotrade pack ticks every box, verifiable line by line.

It is this integrated infrastructure that creates the genuine economic substance — the kind that makes the tax advantage defensible and the company truly workable, rather than an empty shell. It is also exactly what banks check during KYC.

As Fenchell is a firm physically present in Plovdiv since 2018 — with nearly 1,000 companies formed and an Ekomi rating of 4.8/5 — your company is backed by a genuine local presence from day one.

Our team and our network of dedicated partners (lawyers, partner accounting firm, marketplace account managers) represent 10 to 20 people mobilised depending on the complexity of your file. Details in economic substance: avoiding the letterbox company.

Bulgaria vs other jurisdictions: which to choose?

Bulgaria is not the only option for an online entrepreneur. Estonia (e-Residency), Dubai (free zones) or staying in France each have their own logic. In summary: Bulgaria stays within the EU (no VAT or exchange friction), with lower taxation than Estonia on distributed profits and without the regulatory distance of Dubai. The detailed comparison: Bulgaria vs Estonia vs Dubai vs France.

General information current as of 8 June 2026, not constituting personalised tax, legal or accounting advice. Rates, thresholds, deadlines and amounts are indicative, may change and vary according to your situation: always check the rules applicable to your case (in particular the VAT thresholds, the social affiliation of the non-resident director and the tax residence of the dividend beneficiary). Fenchell Capital OOD — Bulgarian firm based in Plovdiv (EIK 207945095).