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When you need a Bulgarian company that can sign a contract this week, a ready-made shelf company, a “готова фирма” (gotova firma) or pre-registered EOOD/OOD, is the fastest legal route into the EU’s lowest-corporate-tax jurisdiction. ShelfCompanies24 maintains a live inventory of clean, never-traded Bulgarian EOOD entities registered in the Търговски регистър (Trade Register), with paid-up capital, an active EIK (unified identification code) and clean NAP (tax authority) record. Most transfers complete in 3 to 7 working days.
Bulgaria’s 10% flat corporate income tax is the lowest in the EU outside specialist regimes, and combined with a 5% dividend withholding (0% under EU Parent-Subsidiary), the effective tax burden on distributed profits is just 15%, making Bulgarian shelf companies particularly attractive for trading, holding, and IT/consultancy structures.
One agreed scope of work: the EOOD itself, the Trade Register filing, the UBO register and sworn translations.
Готова фирма + virtual office + Bulgarian banking + счетоводна къща bundled.
Most transfers completed within 3 to 5 working days. Bulgarian-speaking case manager.
Sign at any Bulgarian consulate, via eIDAS qualified electronic signature, or delegate to our Sofia attorney via пълномощно.
We draft the share-transfer agreement, file the Trade Register amendment, update the UBO register at the Registry Agency.
A Bulgarian shelf companyготова фирма (“ready-made firm”), is a pre-registered, never-traded EOOD or OOD formed by a professional service provider purely for transfer. From incorporation to sale, the company has:
Off the shelf company, ready made company and shelf company all describe the same thing in Bulgaria: an EOOD or OOD incorporated to sit on the shelf until a buyer takes it over, not a business that traded and was later sold. The distinction matters, because a former trading company brings its own tax history, creditors and beneficial-owner record with it. Every entity we transfer is off the shelf in the literal sense: incorporated by us, never traded, and documented as dormant for the whole period it was held.
| Feature | EOOD (single-member LLC) | OOD (multi-member LLC) | AD (joint-stock) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum capital | BGN 2 | BGN 2 | BGN 50,000 |
| Members | Single | 2+ съдружници | 2+ акционери |
| Governance | Управител (manager) | Управител + общо събрание | Съвет на директорите / надзорен съвет |
| Best fit | Single-founder businesses | Multi-founder ventures | Listed groups, regulated finance |
For ~95% of foreign clients, an EOOD (single-member LLC) is the right choice, it offers full liability protection at minimal capital and is the fastest to administer.
Bulgaria’s flat 10% данък върху печалбата is the lowest standard corporate tax rate in the European Union after Hungary’s 9%. For a typical SME shelf-company buyer, the effective tax burden is dramatically lower than in France, Germany, Italy or Spain.
Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, the lev converting at the fixed rate of 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN that had held since 1999. A Bulgarian EOOD now invoices, collects and pays in the single currency, so there is no conversion step against the euro area and no residual currency exposure on intra-EU trade.
A new Bulgarian EOOD takes 1 to 2 weeks via the Trade Register; a готова фирма is already on the register and can invoice the day the share-transfer is filed.
Counter-parties run register checks at brra.bg. An EOOD with a Trade Register entry dated months in the past reads as more substantial than a fresh formation.
Every Bulgarian ready-made EOOD carries an active EIK (Единен идентификационен код, unified identification code) and where pre-registered a Bulgarian VAT number for VIES intra-Community trade.
UniCredit Bulbank, DSK Bank (OTP), KBC Bank Bulgaria (formerly UBB+Raiffeisen), Postbank (Eurobank), First Investment Bank, ProCredit Bank Bulgaria all serve corporate clients with full SEPA functionality.
Buying a ready made company in Bulgaria is a share purchase rather than an incorporation, so the sequence is short. You pick an entity from the live inventory, clear KYC, sign a notarised share-transfer agreement, appoint your own управител, and amend the наименование, седалище and предмет на дейност in the same act. We then file the change with the Търговски регистър, which decides within 1 to 3 working days, and the whole transfer completes in 3 to 7 working days. The seven steps below are what that looks like in practice.
Correct. Neither the members of a Bulgarian OOD nor its manager has to be resident in Bulgaria or hold an EU passport, and a single founder may own the company and manage it. Foreign founders are identified from their passport details on the Commercial Register file. The separate question is immigration: a manager from outside the EU who intends to live and work in Bulgaria needs the ordinary residence and work permissions, which has nothing to do with the company’s own registration.
We send our live inventory: EOOD/OOD entities of various ages registered in Sofia (most), Plovdiv, Varna or Burgas.
Apostilled passport copies, proof of address, business-purpose note. Bulgarian AML rules under ЗМИП (Anti-Money Laundering Act).
Bulgarian law requires the share-transfer agreement to have notarised signatures. We draft the bilingual Bulgarian-English deed. Foreign buyers can sign at any Bulgarian consulate, via eIDAS qualified electronic signature, or delegate to our Sofia attorney via пълномощно.
The outgoing manager is dismissed and your new управител appointed by member resolution.
Name (наименование), registered office (седалище), business purpose (предмет на дейност) are amended in the same act.
Files submitted electronically via the Registry Agency portal at brra.bg. Statutory processing: 1 to 3 working days.
Beneficial owners filed in the central UBO register at the Registry Agency within 4 months. Recent CJEU case law has narrowed public-access scope but UBO filing remains mandatory.
| Tax | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CIT, данък върху печалбата | 10% flat | Lowest standard CIT in the EU |
| Dividend withholding | 5% | 0% to EU corporate parents under Parent-Subsidiary Directive |
| VAT (ДДС) | 20% standard, 9% / 0% reduced | Mandatory above BGN 100,000 turnover; voluntary below |
| Effective rate on distributed profit (non-EU parent) | 15% combined | 10% CIT + 5% dividend withholding |
| Effective rate on distributed profit (EU corporate parent) | 10% | EU Parent-Subsidiary eliminates withholding |
Готова фирма (“gotova firma”, ready-made firm), готово ООД or готово ЕООД. All refer to a pre-registered, never-traded EOOD/OOD held in reserve.
3 to 7 working days from KYC to complete Trade Register amendment. The Trade Register’s 1-3-working-day decision target makes Bulgaria one of the fastest EU jurisdictions.
There are two routes. You can incorporate a new EOOD or OOD in the Trade Register, which our Bulgarian formation service completes in 1 to 2 weeks, or you can take over a готова фирма that is already on the register, which completes in 3 to 7 working days. Both end in the same place: a Bulgarian limited company with an active EIK, a NAP registration, a bank account and, where the activity needs one, a VAT number.
Taking over a ready made EOOD. The entity already exists in the Trade Register with paid-up capital, an active EIK and a clean NAP record, so there is no incorporation to wait for, only a share transfer to file. From KYC sign-off the amendment completes in 3 to 7 working days, against 1 to 2 weeks for a new EOOD, and you can sign contracts in the company name as soon as the transfer is filed.
BGN 2 (two leva, ≈ €1), symbolic. Banks may require higher in practice (BGN 1,000+ for some). Our standard ready-made EOODs come with BGN 2 to 5,000 of paid-in capital.
Bulgaria deliberately positioned itself as the EU’s lowest-tax jurisdiction in 2007 to attract foreign investment after EU accession. The 10% flat CIT has remained unchanged since then. The effective rate including 5% dividend withholding is 15%, still highly competitive.
Yes. Bulgaria joined the euro area on 1 January 2026 and the lev was converted at the fixed rate of 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN, the rate that had applied under the currency board since 1999. Balances, contracts and the share capital of existing companies converted at that rate, so a ready made EOOD bought today is a euro company with no conversion step on intra-EU trade.
No. Sign at any Bulgarian consulate, via eIDAS qualified electronic signature, or delegate to our Sofia attorney via notarised пълномощно.
Yes, every EOOD has its original capital account with the bank that received the deposit (typically UniCredit Bulbank, DSK Bank, KBC Bank Bulgaria, Postbank or First Investment Bank). After transfer you become signatory.
10% CIT on profit, 5% dividend withholding (0% to EU corporate parents). VAT 20% standard. Effective combined corporate tax burden for a typical EOOD: ~10 to 15%.
Want today’s Bulgarian ready-made inventory? Contact our Bulgarian desk, we reply with available EOOD/OOD entities, ages and prices.
Bulgaria is one of several jurisdictions where ShelfCompanies24 maintains pre-formed entities and active formation services. Why pick Bulgaria for your OOD specifically? Flat 10% CIT, EU member is the headline reason, but it pays to understand the trade-offs against the alternatives. Below are concrete differentiators that matter when you are weighing a structure decision against the actual operating profile of your business.
Cross-border corporate structuring in 2026 is governed by a tighter web of rules than in any previous decade. Three forces shape every decision:
For Bulgaria specifically: 10% flat CIT, EU lowest; Eurozone member from 1 January 2026 (lev replaced by euro at 1.95583).
Issues we routinely see when prospects come to us after attempting the process directly with local providers in Bulgaria:
Yes. A name change is filed with the TR via a directors’ resolution and a routine filing, typically clears in 48 hours. We include up to one name change as standard for both shelf-company purchase and new formation. Further changes are handled as a separate instruction.
Yes. A Bulgarian OOD is resident in an EU member state, so the Parent Subsidiary Directive and the Interest and Royalties Directive apply, and Bulgaria has more than 70 comprehensive double taxation agreements in force on top of them, covering every EU member state and most large economies. The OECD Multilateral Instrument has applied to Bulgaria since 2023 and has inserted a principal purpose test, so treaty relief depends on genuine commercial purpose rather than the registered address.
Search brra.bg, the public Търговски регистър, by name or by EIK. The file shows the incorporation date, the седалище, the управител, the members, the registered capital and every document the company has filed, so a buyer can confirm for themselves that an entity has never traded. We send a fresh удостоверение with the transfer papers, and the incorporation date on it is the real one, because the register date cannot be altered.
Decide whether you need to be trading now or can wait. If you can wait, a new EOOD is incorporated in 1 to 2 weeks; if you cannot, a готова фирма puts an existing company in your hands in 3 to 7 working days. From there the steps are the same either way: NAP registration, VAT where turnover requires it, an operating bank account, a registered седалище and an accountant, because Bulgarian companies file monthly and publish annual accounts.
No, and you should not engage anyone who claims otherwise. The Търговски регистър (TR) records the actual incorporation date, which is publicly searchable and immutable. The shelf OODs we offer have honest incorporation dates ranging from a few months to several years old; for buyers who want a longer corporate trading history, we recommend purchase rather than fabrication, since fabricated history would expose you to fraud, tax-evasion, and money-laundering charges in any reputable jurisdiction.
Engaging us for your Bulgarian shelf OOD purchase covers the following deliverables under one service:
The deliverable scope is identical regardless of whether you are based in the EU, the US, the UK, the Middle East, or APAC, we operate the same service globally for Bulgarian corporate setup. Optional add-ons (virtual office, accounting retainer, payroll, sector licences, transfer-pricing documentation) are quoted line-item separately so the agreed scope of work does not drift.