Competitive advantages of Bulgaria

• Strategic geographic location that provides access to important markets.
• Political, macroeconomic and financial stability.
• Investment credit rating from major rating agencies – Moody's (Baa2), Standard & Poor's (BBB).
• Well-educated, highly skilled and multilingual workforce.
• The lowest operating costs in Europe.
• The most favorable tax environment in Europe.

• 10% corporate income tax.
• 10% personal income tax.
• 0% capial gainс tax for investments in 152 municipalities with high unemployment /out of 264 municipalities/.
• 5% withholding tax on dividends and liquidation quotas /0% for EU companies/.
• Exemption from value added tax (VAT) for a period of two years on equipment imports for investment projects over 5 million EUR, which create at least 50 jobs.
• Increased depreciation rates (50%) for investments in new machinery,industrial equipment and appliances; computers, peripheral devices and software.
• Option for deduction of expenditures on research and development activities.

Incentives for investors

Under the Investment Promotion Act and its Regulations for Application of the Investment Promotion Act, investment projects are promoted depending on the size of the investment and the employment created.

Three types of certificates are issued:

• Certificate for investment projects - Class A;
• Certificate for investment projects - Class B;
• Certificate for priority investment project.

Certificates enable investors to benefit from the following incentives and stimuli:

For investments of Class A and Class B:

• Shortened terms for administrative services (for Class A and Class B);
• Individual administrative services (for Class А);
• Acquisition of property or limited real rights on properties without tender or competition (for Class А and Class B);
• Financial support for the construction of technical infrastructure elements (for Class A or two Class B projects in the industrial area);
• Financial support of trainings for acquiring professional qualifications of those who took the new jobs (only for investments in high-tech activities or in municipalities with high unemployment - for Class A and Class B).

Priority investment projects are promoted by means of additional incentives:

• Institutional support through the establishment of the interdepartmental working group on administrative assistance in the composition determined by decision of the Council of Ministers;
• Public-private partnership with counties and municipalities, organizations from the academia, etc.;
• The provision of the right of use or ownership over real estate for the priority investment projects can be done at prices lower than the market price (but not lower than the tax assessment) and with exemption from state fees in case of change of the use of land;
• Option to provide grants:

- up to 50 percent of the cost of investments in education and research activities;

- up to 10 percent of the cost of investments in the processing industry.