VAT in Bulgaria in 2026

Consultoria EHERO

7 minutos de lectura

In Bulgaria, VAT is called данък върху добавената стойност and everyone abbreviates it as ДДС (DDS). It has only two rates: the standard 20 % and a reduced 9 % with a very short list. They are set by chapter six of the Закон за данък върху добавената стойност (ЗДДС), the Bulgarian VAT law: 20 % in article 66 and 9 % in 66а. If you come across a table with 9 % for restaurants or 0 % for bread, it is outdated: both reductions expired on 31 December 2024.

The 2026 change is not about rates, it is about currency. Bulgaria entered the euro on 1 January 2026, so Bulgarian VAT is now invoiced, declared and paid in euros, and the thresholds in the law are written in euros.

Type	Percentage	Applies to
Standard (стандартна ставка)	20 %	Everything not on the short 9 % list: ordinary food, drinks, clothing, footwear, electronics, cosmetics, toys, medicines, and also restaurant and catering services
Reduced (намалена ставка)	9 %	Books in print or digital form, including textbooks, illustrated children’s books, drawing and coloring books, and sheet music; newspapers and magazines, in print or digital form, except advertising publications and those that are mainly video or music
Reduced (намалена ставка)	9 %	Baby food and diapers, but only the customs codes in annex 4 of the law: milk and powdered porridge, vegetable, fruit or meat purées in packages of up to 250 g, baby diapers and special milk formulas
Reduced (намалена ставка)	9 %	Accommodation in hotels and similar establishments, including apartments and holiday homes and the rental of camping or caravan pitches, when they are in Bulgaria

Rates verified on 12 September 2026 against the НАП page «ДДС в България», the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (nra.bg).

Since 1 January 2026, Bulgarian VAT is charged in euros

Bulgaria has been the 21st country in the euro area since 1 January 2026. The EU Council decided this on 8 July 2025, with Decision 2025/1407, and on the same day it set the irrevocable conversion rate: 1 euro = 1.95583 leva (Regulation 2025/1409). The VAT rates were not changed — they remain 20 % and 9 % — but the tax currency did.

In VAT, this shows up in three places, and that is how the НАП explains it. The taxable base is determined in euros and cents. Monthly returns are filed in the currency that was official when the period closed: December 2025 was filed in leva and January 2026 already in euros. And everything owed to the НАП is paid only in euros from 1 January 2026, including principal and interest.

The thresholds were rewritten in euros. The mandatory registration threshold for businesses established in Bulgaria is €51,130 (article 96, paragraph 1 of ЗДДС). This is not the exact conversion of the previous 100,000 leva, which gives €51,129.19: the law wrote the rounded figure. If you see a threshold of 166,000 leva, it is from the first three months of 2025, because on 1 April 2025 it went back to 100,000. Since 1 January 2026 that turnover is counted by calendar year, not by the last twelve months (article 168в), and the НАП warns that anyone who has to monitor a threshold, whether national or EU, must calculate it daily from 1 January.

Dual pricing in leva and euros was mandatory from 8 August 2025 to 8 August 2026, according to the Bulgarian National Bank. That period has already passed: since 9 August 2026 it is enough to display the price in euros, although nothing requires removing the other one. The month of dual circulation, when leva and euro were both legal tender, was from 1 to 31 January 2026.

Which VAT you charge customers in Bulgaria if you sell from another EU country

This is the part no rate table covers, and usually the real question. The rate you charge does not depend only on the destination: it depends on how much you sell to consumers in other EU countries.

Below €10,000 a year in distance sales to the rest of the EU — added up across all countries, not country by country — you charge your own country’s VAT.
Above that €10,000 you charge the destination VAT: 20% as the standard rate in Bulgaria, or the reduced rate that applies to the product. You declare it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country, with no need to register in the destination country.

The threshold adds up all your B2C sales to other EU countries plus digital services, and the switch does not wait for next year: the very sale that crosses the threshold already carries the destination rate.

Selling to a business with a valid EU VAT number is a different story: the sale goes without VAT because the customer accounts for it in their own country, but you have to check that number in VIES and keep proof of the check.

How to set this up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes country-based rates, but it does not distinguish rates within a country by product class or monitor the threshold for you. There are three things you need to set up:

A tax class for each rate you use, assigned product by product and not at store level.
VAT number validation at checkout against VIES for business customers, so VAT is not charged when the transaction is under reverse charge.
A control for the €10,000 threshold, because the day it is exceeded the rates change at once in all countries.

All three are covered by EHERO Woo VAT, which we built precisely because these are the three points where stores selling to the rest of the European Union break.

Two quick checks: check the customer’s VAT number in VIES before invoicing without VAT, and use the EU VAT calculator to see which rate to charge on each sale.

Selling to other EU countries from WooCommerce?

EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate product by product, checks VAT numbers against VIES at checkout and keeps an eye on the €10,000 threshold for you.

See EHERO Woo VAT →

Frequently asked questions

What is the standard VAT in Bulgaria in 2026?

20 %, set in article 66 of the Bulgarian VAT law (ЗДДС). Below that there is only one reduced rate, 9 % in article 66а, and it applies to three things: accommodation in hotels and similar establishments, books and the press — in print or digital — and baby food and diapers from annex 4 of the law. There is no reduced rate for ordinary food or medicines: they are taxed at 20 %.

Is food subject to reduced VAT in Bulgaria?

No. The 9 % rate only applies to food for babies and small children, and even then only for a closed list of customs codes: adapted milk and powdered porridge, homogenized purées of vegetables, fruit, meat or fish in packages of up to 250 g, diapers and special milk formulas. A jar over 250 g is already taxed at 20 %. The rest of food is taxed at 20 %, restaurant services returned to 20 % on 1 January 2025, and bread and flour lost the 0 % rate on the same day.

I sell to Bulgaria from another EU country — which VAT do I charge?

Your own country’s VAT while your distance sales to the whole EU stay below €10,000 a year. Once you cross that threshold, the destination VAT (20% standard rate), declared through the One Stop Shop.

Do I have to register for VAT in Bulgaria?

Not if you only ship from your own country: that is what the One Stop Shop is for. You do if you store goods there — for example with Amazon’s fulfilment network — because stock held in the country creates a registration obligation regardless of how much you sell.