Banking in Bulgaria - New Business

[businessLB]

Hi, after getting help on this forum to find the right move for me, I'm finally going to incorporate in Bulgaria by January 2023.

I'm seeking information about the banking system and what banks you would recommend based on my situation.

Here's what the business is about:
I'll be managing the marketing for Luxury Villas worldwide and mainly spend money on payrolls (freelance), marketing expenses, and travel.
Most of the spending will be in either USD or EUR and I'm expecting to spend between $10,000 to $20,000 per month.

As the business will mainly deal with these two currencies, I'm wondering what's the best solution to reduce the cost of conversion and other costs.
That's where I need your help.

I've considered using Wise Business but would love some suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Dasilva]

in order to pay your taxes in Bulgaria you need a bank in Bulgaria:

DSK - easy to open (if you have a Eu passport)
Postbank - allot of paper work but doable
Fibank - same situation as postbank
Unicredit bulbank - in the past a good bank now days they became unreliable.

Keep in mind that you need a residence permit to open a bank account. (Yes you can try with out but chances are very low)

Also go for the banks premium offices not to the local offices. For example the dsk private banking office at Ul. Moskovska 19 knows how to deal with foreigners.

 

[businessLB]

Oh, I didn't know I needed a bank account in Bulgaria to pay taxes. Thanks!

I'll check with my lawyer to see what will be the easiest setup then. I'll have a 5-year resident permit (most likely) so it's not going to be an issue.
And thanks for the list, I'll research them asap.

Any specific recommendations when it comes to dealing with multiple currencies?

 

[SayMyName]

I would argue that you need a local bank to pay taxes. My clients are paying via EMIs, for instance, Genome. Just you need to declare to BNB (National Bulgarian Bank) about the existence of account of your company in that EMI.
Apart from that the peculiarity of the local banking system in Bulgaria is that it is likely that you will receive calls to confirm transactions that exceed 15k EUR/USD. Banking managers rarely speak English, so it might be a problem. But if you use EMI, there will be no problem paying to your counter party more than 15k.

 

[businessLB]

So it's not a problem if I use an EMI then? I'll check with my tax lawyer but that would be much easier.

 

[nov111]

In general, banks in Bulgaria avoid opening accounts for foreigners. There is a chance if you have a permanent residence document in Bulgaria.

An option for EMIs is PaySera (they have virtual individual IBANs from Postbank). If you are an EU citizen, you can open an iCard account. Both allow for tax payments. What is specific is that payments for taxes and social security is done through a separate payment system - SEBRA, both offer them. However, there is an option to pay taxes and social security through a card on the National Revenue Agency website.

The big problem with opening a company is the capital raising account (opened before the company), as you have to prove that the capital was paid in before registration. Most banks refuse opening or are very slow. From EMI - only PaySera opens capital account - remotely.

 

[koohl]

Most banks refuse opening or are very slow. From EMI - only PaySera opens capital account - remotely.

could a lawyer not deal with it on clients account ?

 

[JimBeam]

I guess that Wise would be the best option as the FX rates are solid and also the transfer costs are low.
I think you could manage that easily.

Not sure how Wise KYC would say about the real estate (check with them first).

 

[Forester]

Just my a few cents (I have no direct personal experience in Bulgaria, I admit) – if not totally late to the party

1) Open an account with some local bank if you can, even when you will use it just occassionally. It is always good to have a bank account in the country of incorporation.

2) Forget about Wise Business. Wise (as well as Revolut, BTW) is known to have one pitfall: Closing the (especially business) accounts without any warning or notice, without any reasonable explanation and freezing the cash for undefined time. There is really a very remarkable number of cases where their AI machine just makes a false deduction / misinterprets data (or/and some poorly paid trained monkey at the first line of compliance departement does the same); and the dispute takes eons. (OK, they are not second to evil but definitely not sufficiently reliable.)

3) iCard is an incarnation of Leopay, IIRC. In such a case, avoid (for a serious and legal business). Search here at forums for the background.

4) As dealing with multiple currencies is concerned, I understand that you need a SEPA account for EUR transactions and a SWIFT account for USD transactions. Consider opening (in addition to a local account) a SEPA with one reasonable EMI (Intergiro would be my option in this case) and a global account with another (I would go for Currenxie). /Yes, Intergiro gives SWIFT accounts, too; but Currenxie is cheaper and mainly, it is really recommendable to have the backup./

 

[phatoz]

I've just had an experience with Unibank private. Unprofessional. Original person didn't show to meeting. Sent another, and she clearly wasn't interested. The 'private banker' did a preliminarry client profile and claimed would call in a week Two weeks later I contacted her (already guessing the answer) to be told NO. Just my experience, but they really don't seem to be able to think beyond a box, even if they're bothered to meet you.