Bulgaria’s Parliament reduces VAT on restaurant takeaway foods to 9%

Bulgaria’s Parliament on November 19 at second reading passed changes to the VAT Act, adopting a lower VAT rate for takeaway foods. The drop is from 20% to 9%.

The proposal of the opposition socialist party to reduce the VAT on medicines to 9% as well was not approved.

The lower tax rate has been applied to restaurant sales and catering services. It is not applied for foods from supermarkets and shops. So cooked food from supermarkets remains outside the scope of the lowered VAT.

The lower VAT rate will remain in effect until the end of 2021.

A text was adopted in the Personal Income Tax Act, according to which there wll be a tax relief of BGN 200 for people who renovated a home.

This should be declared in the annual tax return.

The discount will be used only by owners of the property, which is used as a home. No discount is allowed for offices, for example.

When declaring taxes online, we will be able to take advantage of a discount of up to 5% of the tax amount that remained to be paid. The amount should not exceed BGN 500.

The deadline for declaring and paying the annual tax for businesses is extended until June 30.