The latest amendments and supplements to the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act (EDTWA),  promulgated on 6th of December 2016 in issue 97 of State Gazette, also introduced changes to all other tax laws, to take effect as of beginning of 2017.
The novelties included aim at improvement of the national tax legislation and clarification of the statutory provisions in order to eliminate any ambiguities and facilitate the practical application and compliance with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice.

 
The more important changes to EDTWA refer to the following:

Introduction of a definition for used banderols in relation to more frequent cases identified by the customs of storing used banderols for subsequent use;The individual amounts of the state aid for the farmers in the form of part of the excise duty on gas oil used in primary agricultural production shall be recovered through the  State Agricultural Fund;In order to reduce the administrative burden, the applicants under licensing and registration regimes under EDTWA shall not be obliged to submit certificates for presence or absence of tax and social security liabilities to the customs authorities. This information shall be prepared ex officio by the National Revenues Agency;Both the specific and proportional excise duties rates on cigarettes shall be amended starting  from 1st of January 2017 as follows:
o the specific excise duty on cigarettes shall be increased from BGN 70 to BGN 101 per 1 000 pieces;the proportional excise duty rate will be decreased from 38% to 27% of the sale price;the minimum excise duty charged per 1 000 pieces shall be increased to BGN 168.Search and seizure rights have been granted to the customs authorities;Persons qualifying as traders under  the laws of another EU Member State or of an EEA country will be able to conduct activities, for which registration  under the EDTWA is required (including amongst others sale of natural gas or electricity to consumers, import and sale of coals), also via a branch registered in Bulgaria or through an accredited local VAT representative (the latter option available only for sale of natural gas or electricity to consumers by licensees under the Electricity Act).

A brief overview of the other significant amendments to the Bulgarian tax legislation could be found in our forthcoming Tax Newsletter.

For more information, you could contact Viara Todorova.