When I looked at buying in Bulgaria I looked at taxes etc and found that I had to get a bulstat registration number along with my deeds. I think you need to apply for it as soon as you get your deeds and can be fined a fair amount of money if you don't do that. Just checked on internet and it appears it can be up to 700 levs(about £330).This is for tax authorities to keep track of any earnings and capital gains. Are you sure you didn't get a bulstat number with your deeds?
If you have no earnings I would assume( but don't know) that you would not be paying tax- but you do need that bulstat card in any case. Someone else who owns property could give you more help I'm sure

hi fiona,
thanks for your advice. i have a copy of my title deeds which our solicitor sent me so i will have a look. going to google bulstat to see what it says. if all else fails i will ring solicitor in bulgaria tomorrow. will let you know how i get on.

many thanks

tina

hopefully it will work out ok. Not sure if the fines are just a threat or if they enforce them.

I think the tax you are reffering to is the equivalent of poll tax, if it is an apartment and you do not own a company to cover this apartment then that is fine, it just means that you dont own the land the apartment is on, that is the same situation I am in.

The reason I say that is to emphasize you are not neeed to pay yearly end company tax return.

The only tax you should have to pay is local municipality tax this is paid in the municipality building in SB or Nessebar / Varna etc and is peanuts, less than 50 quid.
Basically when your apartment is completed you get a bulstat number assigned to your name, this is your number that BG officials tag you and your property against (think of it like a national insurance number for your house)
They say if you do not visit the municipality building within 2 months and pay the tax, then you get a massive fine - thats bull
They do this so you get down there and pay them asap or in my case the management company scaremongered me trying to get me to pay 500 euro to them to do it - I know of over 20 people who have paid late and the biggest fine they got was 20 lev and that was for paying 3 years late

That should put your mind at rest Tina Welcome to HT bubble and thanks for the information.

the biggest fine they got was 20 lev and that was for paying 3 years late

I discovered last September that my accountant hadn't paid the municipality tax on my village property since 2005 and went to the Obshtina, with some trepidation, to settle up - from memory, the total bill for the whole period (including late payment fines) was around 14 or 15 Leva.

hi all, sorry for not getting back to you
many thanks for your advice on property tax. i rang my solicitor in bulgaria and they took care of it for me. i have my bulstat( sorry wrong spelling) cards and it cost me €225 that included their fee and as the apartment is in both my name and my husbands name we had to pay twice the fee if i had know that i would have left it in my husbands name only!!! so again thanks for all advice. without it i would be really lost as i have found , much to my cost, that bulgaria can be a mine field that your NOT told about when buying property!!!
see you
tina

Hi Tina
We have a place in Sunny Beach and we pay our taxes every year in New Nessebar.
The only tax we pay is their equivalent of council tax and as long as you did not declare the full value of your property on the notary deed (which I disagree with but seems to be the done thing) it was not very expensive last year, but I have read that it has gone up by 30% this year.
We have owned for 5 years and on £29,000 declared value it was about £60 for the year.
A good taxi driver will know where the office is and just take your notary deeds and passport into the office and it is (or was) the first window on the right as you go in. All very painless and usually quick but maybe a bit longer for a first timer. Don't worry about the deadline as they understand that owners visit at different times of the year. I don't recall being fined for lateness but I believe that they give a 5% discount if you pay early.
Our driver who we have used for 5 years is Drusko (David) let me know if you need a number for him he is God send for all our needs when away.
Hope this helps
Regards
Drainman (John)

hi drainman,
thanks for your reply. i finally had to contact my solicitor i used in bulgaria as i tried to pay it myself but all the sites are in bulgarian. as my solicitor had my bulstat cards it made sence for him to pay it for me. it worked out at approx €60 each (as my name and my husbands names are on the title deeds, so by law we both have to pay council tax....very unfair rule..but then again i have learned much to my cost that bulgarian law is a mine field of confusing and sometimes mind numbing rules) its a pity the company selling me the property didnt tell us this!!! so thanks for the advice
tina.