Starting a business in Bulgaria: foreigner's guide (2026)

The World Bank's inaugural Business Ready (B-READY 2024) report ranked Bulgaria among the top-performing economies globally on the Business Entry topic, citing minimal restrictions for domestic and foreign firms and transparent regulatory information. Bulgaria scored 76.33 points in the Regulatory Framework pillar, placing 6th among 50 assessed economies.

Amendments to the Bulgarian Commercial Act (promulgated in State Gazette No. 66, 1 August 2023) added the Variable Capital Company as a sixth commercial entity type, with no fixed minimum capital and flexible partner entry/exit rules without amending articles of association. Designed specifically for startups and innovative businesses seeking equity investment.

Amendments effective 18 March 2022 introduced a Startup Visa Programme streamlining immigration for non-EU innovative founders, made investment-to-job creation criteria inversely proportional (lowering capital thresholds for state incentives), and added partial reimbursement of employer social-insurance contributions for qualifying new jobs.

Bulgaria dissolved the State eGovernment Agency (SEGA) and created a dedicated Ministry of eGovernance, whose primary mandates include digitalisation of registries, electronic identification, and higher-quality e-services for businesses — directly accelerating back-office modernisation of company registration services.

The Registry Agency launched EPZEU (portal.registryagency.bg) combining the Commercial Register, Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities, and Property Register into one online platform; all prior separate portals were shut down simultaneously. Entrepreneurs can now search, submit, and track company registration applications end-to-end online.

As of 1 January 2018 the Registry Agency (under the Ministry of Justice) took over the Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities from the courts, consolidating all legal-entity registration under a single administrative authority for the first time and paving the way for the unified EPZEU portal.

The three-year transitional period granted by the 2008 Commercial Register Act expired on 31 December 2011; all Bulgarian commercial entities were required by law to re-register in the centralised electronic register or lose their legal standing. Completion of this migration fully phased out the legacy court-based registry.

Bulgaria transposed EU Services Directive 2006/123/EC into national law via the Service Activities Act (in force 23 February 2010), establishing the online Point of Single Contact (psc.egov.bg) where businesses can complete all administrative procedures required to provide services in Bulgaria through one electronic portal.

An amendment to the Commerce Act slashed the minimum founding capital for a limited-liability company (OOD) and single-member LLC (EOOD) from BGN 5,000 to just BGN 2, effectively eliminating capital as a practical barrier to incorporation and making Bulgaria one of the cheapest EU jurisdictions in which to form a company.

The Business Register Act (Zakon za targovskiya registar) took effect, creating a single centralised electronic Commercial Register managed by the Registry Agency under the Ministry of Justice and replacing the fragmented court-based system. All traders received a Universal Identification Code (UIC); the reform was directly linked to Bulgaria's EU accession in January 2007.

Bulgaria's Grand National Assembly promulgated the Commerce Act (State Gazette No. 48/1991), establishing the first post-communist legal framework for commercial entities — sole traders, partnerships, OOD, and joint-stock companies (AD). It remains the primary statute governing company formation today, although substantially amended over three decades.