Running a business in Sofia

Foreign companies and citizens that have an intention to run a business in Sofia should set up their own companies. The conditions for them to do so are the same ones that are applied to the Bulgarian citizens and are set in the Bulgarian Commercial Code. The legal forms of starting a business that are most popular are limited liability companies and joint stock companies, though there are other options too like sole traders, holdings, etc. In order to be successful, the newly registered companies should have a secure financing and a solid commercial strategy. Before starting its business, the company has to go through a commercial registration at the Central Register and through a registration for VAT, which is mandatory if the turnover of the company is more than 50 000 BGN.

Investors who wish to register the so called public company, also known as joint stock company, shall go through specific procedures. These include for their company prospect to be received and approved by the Financial Supervision Commission. This commission is the one that issues permits for the companies that can operate as investment companies, companies with special investment aims, management companies, companies that manage mutual funds, etc. There are certain companies that operate on the capital markets, which have special requirements that concern their capital, their activities and the way of management. They work in close proximity with the Financial Supervision Commission.

Good news for all people that want to start doing business or to offer temporary services in a foreign country like Bulgaria, for example, is that there is a European law called Services Directive. Its purpose is to make registration of a company easier and to offer more services on the territory of the European Union, which includes all its twenty seven member states, as well as Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland. This special Services Directive makes the member states reduce the level of bureaucracy and to simplify the formalities that are necessary to start a company, as well as to make the entire public administration work in a more efficient way. As a result of the efforts made and the Directive issued, the member states of the European Union had to organize online government portals and thus arrange all these administrative procedures in an easy and fast way. These special electronic government portals provide a lot of useful and practical information on all administrative issues that concern the start or the expansion of the business services in the country. Bulgaria is no exception to that and Sofia is proud of its online government portal. There one might find information and advice on every aspect of doing business, getting permits, applying for a license and so on. This online system allows for sending online applications to the authority that is in charge. In addition to all that, the online government portals in the countries that are members of the European Union are connected in one main network, which is also quite useful.