Bulgaria has adopted a new law (Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Accountancy Act) that aligns the country with the EU’s public Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting requirement (Directive 2021/2101). This means large companies will be required to disclose financial data on a global scale.
The key points of the law include:
- Applies to companies: Companies with annual consolidated revenue exceeding BGN 1.5 billion (approximately EUR 765 million) for two consecutive years. This threshold is higher than the standard EU requirement of EUR 750 million.
- Reporting requirements: Entities must prepare reports in Bulgarian and submit them for public announcement within 12 months of the financial year end.
- Accessibility: Companies must make reports publicly available on their websites in at least one official EU language for five years. Exceptions exist for reports already published in central EU registers.
- Who needs to report: This includes ultimate parent companies, individual enterprises exceeding the threshold, and Bulgarian branches/subsidiaries of non-EU parent companies, unless the parent already publishes a compliant report.
The new law also allows for temporary omission of sensitive commercial information from reports, with the requirement to disclose it within five years.
This move towards public CbC reporting is expected to enhance transparency and public scrutiny of large corporations in Bulgaria, providing stakeholders with insights into their global operations and tax contributions. The new regulations will take effect on 1 January 2025.
