Invoicing in Bulgaria (2026): Rules, Required Elements, Euro Amounts

If you run a Bulgarian company from abroad, invoicing is where theory meets practice: the rules come from the Bulgarian VAT Act (ЗДДС), the amounts are now in euro, and a formally defective invoice can cost your client their VAT deduction. Here is how invoicing in Bulgaria works in 2026 — the required elements, the deadlines, and the traps foreign owners fall into.

Current as of July 2026. General information, not tax advice. Invoicing rules sit mainly in Articles 113–121 of the VAT Act and its implementing regulation — for edge cases (intra-EU supplies, reverse charge, margin schemes) talk to your accountant.

Who must issue invoices — and when you don’t have to

Every VAT-taxable person (this includes companies not registered for VAT) must issue an invoice for a supply of goods or services or for an advance payment received. The main exceptions: an invoice is not mandatory when the customer is a private individual who doesn’t ask for one, for certain financial/insurance services, and for free-of-charge supplies. In B2B relationships, assume an invoice is always required.

Two things surprise founders used to other systems:

1. There is no “invoice by PDF only if signed” formality. Neither a signature nor a company stamp is required for validity. Electronic invoices (PDF by email) are fine, provided authenticity and integrity are ensured.
2. Non-VAT-registered companies invoice too — they simply don’t charge VAT and must state the reason on the invoice (“чл. 113, ал. 9 от ЗДДС” is the usual citation for non-registered persons).

The 5-day rule

An invoice must be issued no later than 5 days after the tax event (usually the delivery of the goods or completion of the service), or within 5 days of receiving an advance payment. For intra-EU supplies of goods, the deadline is the 15th of the month following the tax event.

Backdating a whole quarter of invoices at the end of the quarter is a classic small-company habit — and a formal violation that shows up immediately in an audit.

Mandatory invoice elements

Under Article 114 of the VAT Act, every invoice must contain:

• the document name (“Фактура” / invoice) and a unique 10-digit sequential number;
• date of issue;
• supplier: name, address, EIK (company ID) and VAT number if registered — see Bulgarian company identifiers explained;
• customer: name, address, identification number;
• the date of the tax event or of the advance payment;
• description, quantity and unit price of the goods/services, discounts if any;
• the tax base, the VAT rate and the VAT amount;
• the grounds for charging 0% VAT or not charging VAT, where applicable;
• the total amount due.

The 10-digit strictly sequential numbering is the detail foreign founders most often miss: you cannot start a parallel “EN series” or skip ranges at will. Invoicing software sold in Bulgaria handles this automatically.

Euro amounts and rounding (the 2026 change)

Since 1 January 2026 Bulgaria is a euro area member and the euro is the national currency, so invoices, ledgers and VAT returns run in euro. Key mechanics:

• The lev was converted at the fixed rate of €1 = 1.95583 BGN. Conversions must use the full 5-decimal rate — never a shortened 1.96 or 1.956 — and results are rounded to two decimals (third decimal 5 or above rounds up).
• Contracts concluded in leva remain valid; amounts are simply read in euro at the fixed rate. No re-signing needed.
• You may show amounts on an invoice in any currency (say, USD for a US client), but the tax base and VAT amount must also be stated in euro.
• Consumer-facing prices must be displayed in both currencies until 8 August 2026 — relevant if you sell B2C.

For the broader changeover picture — cash, bank accounts, accounting restatement — see Bulgaria adopts the euro: what it means for your company.

VAT on the invoice: 20%, 9% or nothing

The standard VAT rate is 20%, with a reduced 9% rate for a narrow set of supplies (notably hotel accommodation). Whether you charge VAT at all depends on your registration status and the place-of-supply rules:

• Not VAT-registered (turnover under the €51,130 annual threshold and no other trigger): you invoice without VAT and state the grounds. Details in VAT registration in Bulgaria.
• VAT-registered, selling domestically: 20% (or 9%) on top of the tax base.
• VAT-registered, selling B2B services to EU or third-country businesses: typically 0%/reverse charge with the correct legal citation on the invoice — this is where professional review pays for itself.

Invoices vs. fiscal receipts

A frequent confusion: the invoice and the fiscal receipt (касов бон) are different documents. If a customer pays in cash or by card, the sale must go through a registered fiscal device and produce a fiscal receipt — in addition to any invoice. Payments received by bank transfer don’t require a fiscal device. Many foreign-owned service companies deliberately accept bank transfers only, precisely to stay out of the fiscal-device regime.

E-invoicing and SAF-T: what’s coming

As of mid-2026 Bulgaria has no general B2B e-invoicing mandate (unlike Romania’s RO e-Factura). The digital-reporting push is happening through SAF-T instead: from January 2026 the largest enterprises submit standardized monthly accounting files to the tax administration, with a phased rollout reaching small companies by 2029 and VAT-registered micro-companies by 2030. Practical consequence for a new company: keep clean, software-based books from day one — the era of spreadsheet accounting is ending.

Record keeping

Accounting registers and financial statements must be kept for 10 years; payroll records for 50 years; other tax-relevant documents at least 5 years after the limitation period expires. In practice: keep every sales and purchase invoice for at least 10 years, electronically is fine, as long as they stay readable and retrievable.

Credit notes, debit notes and corrections

Bulgarian VAT law is strict about how you fix an invoice. The three instruments:

• Credit note (кредитно известие) — issued when the tax base decreases: a discount granted later, returned goods, a cancelled deal after invoicing. It references the original invoice number and reverses part or all of it.
• Debit note (дебитно известие) — the mirror case, when the tax base increases after issuance.
• Voiding (анулиране) — for invoices issued in error (wrong customer, duplicated document). Both parties keep a record of the voided document; if the invoice already entered a VAT return, a protocol procedure applies.

What you may not do: quietly delete an invoice from the sequence, reuse its number, or edit an issued PDF. The 10-digit sequence must stay unbroken — gaps are one of the first things an auditor checks. Notes follow the same 5-day rule, counted from the event that changed the tax base.

A practical setup checklist

For a newly formed company, invoicing compliance boils down to five decisions made once:

1. Pick the invoicing tool — Bulgarian invoicing software or your accountant’s system; confirm it produces the 10-digit sequence and euro totals correctly.
2. Fix your document flow — who issues, who approves, and how invoices reach the accountant monthly (shared folder or direct software access beats email chains).
3. Decide on payment rails — bank-transfer-only keeps you out of the fiscal-device regime; the moment you take cards or cash, budget for a fiscal device and its monthly upkeep.
4. Settle the VAT question early — registration status changes what every single invoice must say (see the VAT registration guide linked above).
5. Archive from day one — a folder per year, invoices numbered and complete, ten years deep. Reconstructing year one during a year-five audit is expensive.

Common mistakes by foreign owners

• Invoicing from a foreign template without the 10-digit number, EIK or tax-event date — formally invalid, and your client’s accountant will bounce it.
• Charging VAT without being VAT-registered — VAT stated on an invoice becomes payable to the budget even if charged by mistake.
• Missing the 5-day window by batching invoices monthly.
• Ignoring the euro dual-display rule for consumer prices (until 8 August 2026).
• No fiscal device for card payments — card income without a fiscal receipt is a sanctionable offence, not a technicality.

FAQ

Can I issue invoices in English? Yes — the law doesn’t prescribe a language, and bilingual BG/EN templates are common. The tax administration can request a translation during an audit, so keep the data unambiguous.

Do I need special software? Not legally — an invoice can even be produced in a spreadsheet if it has all mandatory elements and correct numbering. Practically, Bulgarian invoicing software (or your accountant’s system) removes the numbering and formatting risk.

What if I made a mistake on an issued invoice? You can’t just edit it. Corrections go through a credit/debit note or by voiding and reissuing, following the VAT Act procedure — tell your accountant, don’t improvise.

Is a proforma invoice a tax document? No. A proforma is a payment request with no VAT effect; after payment you must still issue a real invoice within 5 days.

We handle invoicing setup, VAT registration and monthly accounting for foreign-owned Bulgarian companies — in English, with fixed monthly pricing. See our accounting services for companies in Bulgaria or start your company formation if you’re not incorporated yet.