Check Bulgaria VAT numbers

Format: 9 or 10 digits

Bulgarian VAT numbers carry the country prefix BG followed by 9 or 10 digits. The two lengths reflect different categories of registrant:

• 9 digits: legal entities. The number matches the EIK (Единен идентификационен код, Unified Identification Code), the primary corporate identifier.
• 10 digits: individuals registered for VAT. The number derives from the EGN (Единен граждански номер, Personal Identification Number).

vatverify accepts both lengths and routes through VIES. The underlying check digit is verifiable offline.

NRA and the BULSTAT register

The Bulgarian tax administration is the National Revenue Agency (NRA, Национална агенция за приходите). The corporate register itself is BULSTAT, maintained by the Registry Agency. NRA layers VAT registration on top of BULSTAT records.

A 9-digit BULSTAT number can resolve in BULSTAT without being VAT-registered. VIES will return valid: false in that case while BULSTAT still shows an active business record. vatverify validates against VIES; for BULSTAT-only checks the public registry portal is the authoritative source.

VAT rates

Bulgaria runs two primary rates: 20% standard and 9% reduced. The 9% bracket has historically applied to accommodation services and has been extended at various points to include restaurant services, books, and other categories under time-limited measures. There is also a 0% rate for exports and intra-Community supplies.

The 20% standard rate is one of the lower headline rates in the EU. Date-aware lookups against current NRA publications remain the safer default for invoicing logic; specific bracket assignments have shifted multiple times in recent budget cycles.

EGN-derived VAT numbers and privacy

For Bulgarian sole traders and other individuals registered for VAT, the 10-digit form derives from the EGN. The EGN is the Bulgarian personal identification number and encodes date of birth.

This is a privacy concern in the same family as the Dutch pre-2020 BTW situation: a published Bulgarian invoice from a sole trader can disclose the trader's date of birth to anyone who can read the VAT number. Bulgaria has not split the public VAT identifier from the EGN in the way the Netherlands did.

Reverse-charge for cereals and metals

Bulgaria applies domestic reverse-charge to cereals, oilseeds, scrap metal, and several other categories historically associated with carousel fraud. These rules apply between two Bulgarian VAT-registered businesses and are independent of EU intra-Community reverse-charge.

Cross-border with neighbours

Bulgaria borders Romania, Greece (both EU), North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey (third countries). Standard EU intra-Community reverse-charge applies to B2B supplies between Bulgaria and other-EU VAT-registered businesses.

Turkey shares an EU customs union for industrial goods, but services and agriculture follow third-country rules. Sanctions regimes affect what is permitted with North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey depending on sector and counterparty.

Public registry

NRA exposes a public lookup portal for Bulgarian VAT registration status. The portal returns broader information than VIES, including the specific date of registration and the type of taxpayer (monthly or quarterly filer). For VIES-equivalent checks the public portal is the right tool when you need additional fields beyond the binary valid flag.

vatverify validates against VIES for cross-border consistency.

Caching against the NRA cycle

NRA pushes registration changes to VIES on a regular batch. Newly-registered Bulgarian numbers are generally visible in VIES within 24 to 48 hours. vatverify's default TTLs (30 days for valid, 24 hours for invalid) line up with this cadence.