Starting a new business is easier and less costly in Bulgaria compared to other countries in Europe and the developed world. . In recent years Bulgaria cut the costs associated with new business registration and now the cost of starting a new business is just 1% of income per capita as opposed to 7% in other parts of Europe and 4% in OECD members.
Business start-up procedures in Bulgaria have been streamlined, and enforcement of commercial regulations is consistent. Enforcing contracts is less costly in Bulgaria compared to other countries in EU and Central Asia. The ease of enforcing commercial contracts is measured through the evolution of a payment dispute and tracking the time, cost, and number of procedures involved from the moment a plaintiff files the lawsuit until actual payment. Enforcing a contract is only slightly more time consuming in Bulgaria compared to advanced economies. There are a total of 38 procedures which need to be followed.
In recent years Bulgaria has improved its insolvency procedures and has shortened the distance from the best performers in the world. Closing a business in Bulgaria costs less compared to many other countries in Europe and Asia. The average cost of bankruptcy procedures is only 9% of the estate in Bulgaria as opposed to 13% in Europe and Central Asia.
Bulgaria offers good protection of physical and intellectual property rights compared to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, developing Asia and Northern Africa. Bulgaria’s legal and political environment has improved compared to 2010 and currently Bulgaria provides better protection of physical property rights compared to 2011. Since 2010 there has been a steady improvement of intellectual property rights (including patents) protection, which is valuable particularly for companies involved in software development or BPO. Bulgaria provides more adequate intellectual property protection than Russia, and as good as in Poland.
There are five procedures required to start a business in Bulgaria:
- Execute the minutes of the constituent meeting of the shareholders in the LLC; obtain a notary certified statement of consent and signature specimen of the manager, and a certified copy of the articles of incorporation of the LLC – 1 day
- Opening of a rising capital account at a bank, which requires 5 working days .
- Register with the Commercial Register at the Registry Agency, which requires up to 5 working days.
- Opening of a company account at a bank, which requires 5 working days.
- Register for VAT, which requires 1 day for filing, 12 days for final registration.