How Much Does It Cost to Start and Run a Company in Bulgaria? (2026)

How Much Does It Cost to Start and Run a Company in Bulgaria? (2026)

“How much will it cost me?” This is usually the second question we get, right after “is the tax really 10%?” The good news is that Bulgaria is a relatively cheap country to have a company in the EU. But the real answer is not one number. Some costs are fixed by the state and are very small. Others depend on your situation and on who you work with. In this article we go through all of them, the one-time costs, the yearly costs, and some costs people don’t expect. All prices are for 2026. Since Bulgaria uses the euro since January, everything is in euro.

The costs to start

State fee for registration. The fee for registering an EOOD or OOD in the Commercial Register is €28.12 when filed electronically, and €56.24 on paper. Most providers file electronically, so it’s the lower amount.
Minimum capital. Only €1. This is not really a cost, because the money stays in the company. Many founders put in a bit more so the company has money for its first expenses, but there is no rule that says you must.
Notary. The signatures on some founding documents must be certified by a notary. In Bulgaria this costs a few euros per signature. If you sign in your home country, the notary there can be much more expensive, and you usually also need an apostille.
Translations and apostilles. If documents come from abroad, for example when the owner is a foreign company, they need an apostille and a certified translation into Bulgarian. Translations usually cost around €10 to €25 per page. For a simple case with a the owner signing in Bulgaria, you often don’t need any of this.
Bank account. Paying in the capital usually costs around €10. For the real business account, many banks now charge a fee for reviewing a new client, usually between €100 and €300, and in some cases more. This fee is normally not returned if the bank says no, which is one more reason to prepare the application well.
Service fee. If you use a provider to do the whole registration for you, the market price for a full service is usually between €700 and €1,500. The difference depends on what is included: only the registration, or also advice on the structure, help with the bank, the registered address and the first steps with the accounting. With partners or a foreign company as owner, the price is usually higher, because there is more work.

The costs to run the company

Accounting. Every Bulgarian company needs an accountant from the first month, also with no activity. For a small company with few invoices, no VAT and no employees, accounting starts from around €150 per month. With VAT registration, more transactions or employees, it’s usually a few hundred euros per month. The price depends on the amount of work, not on your profit.
Bank fees. A business account usually costs somewhere between €5 and €20 per month, depending on the bank and the plan. Payments outside the EU or in other currencies cost extra.
Registered address. If you don’t have your own office in Bulgaria, you need an address for the company. Prices are different depending on what is included, only the address or also scanning and forwarding of letters. Expect from around €100 to a few hundred euros per year.
Annual financial statements. Publishing them in the Commercial Register is free when filed electronically. The work to prepare them is normally part of the accounting.
Employees. If you hire people, on top of the salaries you pay the employer’s part of social contributions, and there are some extra costs, for example a contract with an occupational health service. Payroll is usually part of the accounting price or priced per employee. We explain this in more detail on our payroll page.

And the taxes?

Taxes are not a cost of having a company, they depend on how much profit you make. In short: 10% corporate tax on the profit, and 5% tax when you take the profit out as a dividend. If you pay yourself a salary, there are social contributions and 10% income tax on it. We explain how this works and what is better for you in our article about taxes for company owners.

Three examples

Every case is different, but these examples give a realistic picture.
A freelancer with an EOOD, no VAT, no employees. You come to Bulgaria to sign and meet the bank. The first-year start costs are around €850 to €1,800 in total, for the registration service, state fee, notary and bank. After that, the running costs are around €2,000 to €2,600 per year, mostly the accounting, plus bank fees and an address.
A consultant or agency with EU clients, VAT registered. The start costs are similar, maybe a bit more for the VAT registration. The running costs are higher, because there is a monthly VAT return and more transactions. Count with around €3,000 to €4,500 per year.
A small company with one or two employees. Here the accounting includes payroll every month, so the running costs are usually around €4,000 to €6,000 per year, not counting the salaries and contributions themselves.
Even the highest of these numbers is much lower than what most of our clients pay for the same in Germany, the Netherlands or the UK.

Costs people don’t expect

From our experience, these are the things that make the budget bigger than planned:
Documents from abroad. If the owner is a foreign company or documents are signed abroad and then sent to Bulgaria, apostilles and translations can easily add a few hundred euros.
Travel. One trip to Bulgaria for signatures and the bank is often cheaper than doing everything abroad with notaries and couriers, but it is still a cost to plan.
Cheap accounting that is not cheap. A very low monthly price often means slow answers, no English and missed deadlines. One fine or one problem with the tax office can cost more than a year of the difference.
Penalties. Late filings mean fines, and some of them go to the manager personally. They are easy to avoid, but only if someone follows the deadlines.
Moving to Bulgaria. If you also want a residence permit, this has its own costs: fees, translations, health insurance and more. It’s a separate budget.

In short

Starting a company in Bulgaria costs from under €1,000 to around €2,000 for most people, depending on how complex the case is and how much help you want. Running a small company costs a few thousand euros per year, most of it accounting. The state fees are small, the taxes are low, and the biggest savings come from doing things right the first time.
If you want to see how the whole process works, read our overview of starting a company in Bulgaria. And if you want a clear price for your case, write us and tell us a few words about your business. We will send you an exact offer, with no surprises later.