eInvoicing in Bulgaria

Legislation

The amended Public Procurement Act (PPA) by the Law for Amending and Supplementing the Public Procurement Act (LASPPA) legislates the use of eInvoicing and the European standard in Bulgaria since 18 October 2018. 

The Public Procurement Agency created a dedicated portal detailing guidance for compliance. 

According to the Art. 115a. (new – State Gazette (SG) 86/18 [1],[2]), in force from 1 November 2019, in the case of payment under public procurement contracts, all contracting authorities are obliged to accept and process eInvoicing, this to comply with with the Directive 2014/55/EU)[3] and implement the the European standard on electronic invoicing.

On 1 July 2020, provisions entered into force regarding electronic means of communication for tender evaluation, conclusion of a contract, ordering, invoicing and payment.

eInvoicing platform and eInvoicing management solutions

The LASPPA ensures the requirements of eInvoicing Directive transposition and the creation of the Central Automated Information System Electronic Public Procurement (CAIS EPP) as a national platform for electronic public procurement[4].

As of 2 May 2020, the Bulgarian PPA announced the renewal of the CAIS EPP, and the update to a 2^nd version of the system was carried out. Several measures were implemented, with the aim of increasing the communication flow between public and private bodies. Amongst these measures, it stands out the anonymisation of candidates in project competitions [5].

The system encompasses three different types of users, (i) the default option ‘economic operator’, (ii) “contracting entity” or (iii) “individual”. CAIS EPP is under the responsibility of the Public Procurement Agency in charge of its set-up and maintenance. 

Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices

EInvoicing in Bulgaria is based on bilateral agreements between economic operators (or solution providers acting on their behalf) and public administrations. 

According to the practice of the Commission for Protection of Competition, resolutions for termination of a procedure with participants are served only through CAIS EPP. Article 9k, paragraph 1 of the Regulation for the Implementation of the Public Procurement Act states that the exchange of documents and communications between contracting authorities, candidates, participants and contractors is carried out through the platform [6].

CAIS EPP notifies the participants of new publications in the Buyer’s Profile about the procedures in which they participate.

The electronic signature is optional for eInvoices and the archiving period amounts to 6 years[7].

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

The legislation in place applies to all public levels; central, regional, and local contracting authorities and entities[8]. 

Status on the implementation of the European Standard on eInvoicing (EN)

The most frequently syntax used when exchanging eInvoicing is XML. The European standard is mandatory by law for all the contracting authorities. 

The National Revenue Agency (NRA) with industry stakeholders are discussing the idea of introducing mandatory eInvoicing for private entities. By the end of 2021 a decision will be reached [9]. ​

Monitoring eInvoicing implementation

It is specified that according to Article 9k, paragraph 3 of the Regulation for the Implementation of the Public Procurement Act, the users of the platform are obliged to monitor their profiles for notifications, messages and documents. CAIS EPP also notifies the participants of new publications in the Buyer’s Profile about the procedures in which they participate [10].

Digital reporting requirements

Rules on reporting requirements and year of introduction [11] 

Bulgaria has introduced the obligation to submit sales and purchase registers jointly with VAT returns by article 125 of the VAT Act, enacted in 2006.

Since January 2018, the sales and purchase registers (and the VAT return) shall be submitted electronically. Apart from the method of data transmission, no other changes have been introduced to this VAT reporting requirement. Reporting entities

The obligation to submit sales and purchase registers apply to all taxable persons registered in Bulgaria for VAT, including non-resident businesses.

Scope of requirements:

• All transactions regardless of their value (i.e. there is no threshold).
• B2B, B2G and B2C.
• Sales and purchases.
• Domestic, intra-EU and extra-EU transactions.
• The reporting frequency is monthly.
• Reporting information (Semantic).
• Information must be reported on a transaction-by-transaction basis.
• Invoice information to be submitted include the following:
  • Invoice date o Invoice number.
  • Type of transaction.
  • Tax rate.
  • Taxable amount.
  • VAT amount payable.
  • Trading partner name (this field can also be left blank).
  • Trading partner VAT number.
• Reporting format (Syntax) and embedded system.
• Data must be submitted using the TXT format, through the tax authority portal.

On July 4, 2022, the NRA announced the implementation of a 24 months project aimed to introduce the use of SAF-T. The project is still in its early stages of development and is being rolled out with the support of the European Union. The NRA has not disclosed the exact timeline for when SAF-T will become mandatory [12].

On August 10, 2022, the NRA released version 11.02 of the tool developed for generating VAT reports, VAT returns, and VAT Information Exchange System (VIES) returns. The tax authority further published an updated user guide reflecting recently adopted VAT amendments. This new release will become effective September 7, 2022 [13].

The National Revenue Agency (“NRA”) is considering the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing. The NRA is consulting with industry stakeholders to draft a proposal. [14].

[1] State Gazette is only available in Bulgarian, [2] (Bulgarian State Gazette, 2019), [3] (Public Procurement Act, 2016), [4] (Republic of Bulgaria, 2021), [5] (Ilieva Voutcheva & Co., 2020), [6] (OECD, 2021), [7] (Compliance updates – Bulgaria, 2023), [8] (Storecove, 2021), [9] (Hysi, 2021), [10] (Ilieva Voutcheva & Co., 2020), [11] (VAT in the Digital Age Report, 2022), [12] (KiK, 2022), [13] (National Revenue Agency, 2023) and [14] (Orbitax, 2023) 

Last updated:  Jul 13, 2023 12:42