Bulgarian government mulls one-time 33% tax on excess profits

[Bill D]

Bulgarian government mulls one-time 33% tax on excess profits

Bulgaria’s caretaker government announced that it is looking into a windfall tax of up to 33% to drastically reduce the current budget deficit for the year announced just a few weeks before the elections.

www.euractiv.com

 

[Martin Everson]

A poor EU country with low corporate tax has budget issues. Now needs to rob the populous one time or go cap in hand to the IMF they say. IMF will say raise corporate taxes, lower government spending, cut pensions etc etc.

Good luck to them whatever they decide is best way forward.

 

[algotrader]

If introduced it will probably affect only few and I doubt it will solve their budget deficit issue:

The most serious idea is the introduction of a one-time tax for the period July - December 2023 on the excess profits of companies in Bulgaria, including private ones. For public enterprises, payment of 100% dividend is foreseen. The new tax will be calculated by subtracting the 20% increased average annual profit for 2019, 2020 and 2021 from the 2022 profit and multiplying the difference by 33%.

The question is whether and how it will be calculated for entities that haven't filed a tax return in the 5 previous years.

МФ: 33% данък върху свръхпечалбите на всички фирми или заем от МВФ - Mediapool.bg

Със странен доклад, в който се описва, че едва ли не държавата е пред фалит, финансовият министър Росица Велкова обяви в сряда мерки за затягане на фискалната дисциплина. Целта е драстично...

www.mediapool.bg

And it is interesting that the country with the 2nd lowest debt to gdp ratio in the EU (23%) has problems to raise new debt while countries with much more excessive debt to gdp (>100%) can run much higher fiscal deficits.
I guess it is now likely that they will raise the general corporate tax rate to catch up with Romania.

 

[Bill D]

If introduced it will probably affect only few and I doubt it will solve their budget deficit issue:


The question is whether and how it will be calculated for entities that haven't filed a tax return in the 5 previous years.

Yes good question the calculation needs 2019 2020 2021 and 2022, if I understood it should add a tax of 33% on excess profits of 2022 compared to 120%*weighted average 2019..2021

Either it would mention exemption for startups either it would take the average on the years where the company exists

It would mean a marginal tax of 43% on these profits as there is already the 10CT


I Thought that it was not possible to retroactively raise tax there, that the tax for the fiscal year of 2023 were already set as not having been modified before 31st december 2022 (was told it by an accountant)
However it is really surprising to see they could retroactively tax year not only 2023 (current exercice) but also 2022 !?!

It seems really dangerous if they can decide after wards to tax you 43%

It seems everyone would be targetted, from the shop selling pizza to the bank

 

[Bill D]

Министерство на финансите :: Законопроекти

www.minfin.bg

here is the law text, who does that apply to exactly ? Companies, self employed, sole traders, individuals (salary/capital gains) ?


@algotrader appearently new companies would be affected and it would be calculated as an average from year of creation until 2021

(i guess new 2022 +2023 company not affected?)

Министерство на финансите :: Законопроекти

www.minfin.bg

here is the law text, who does that apply to exactly ? Companies, self employed, sole traders, individuals (salary/capital gains) ?


@algotrader appearently new companies would be affected and it would be calculated as an average from year of creation until 2021

(i guess new 2022 +2023 company not affected?)

Предложените данъчни промени: Свръхпечалбата ще се облага за втората половина на 2023 г.

Без намалено ДДС за ресторанти, спорт и някои туристически услуги. Максимум 5 хил. лв. плащане в брой

www.capital.bg

IN this article they mention it would affect profits from july to december 2023 only
However 2022 would be used to calculate prepayments only, so I dont understand, is it retroactiv or not