Land investment in Bulgaria

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hjrdee

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Just investigating the Bulgarian market at the moment in relation to investing and came across a confusing point.

In order to purchase land in Bulgaria you need to set up a company as foreigners cannot currently purchase land. So far so good. However, if I choose to sell the land, presumably the company is liable to CGT on the sale of the land. Again fine, however this means that the proceeds of the sale are also the property of the company. So now in order for me to claim the profits from the company I become liable to Income Tax.

Am I correct in this? If this is the case it would seem something to be aware of.

Perhaps someone with experience in this might be able to clarify. Thanks
 
Hi,

You will get a different answer regarding tax in Bulgaria from everybody you ask so you're better off dealing with a knowlegeable accountant. When you have land and a company you will have to do an annual return (a nil return that won't cost anything) so you're going to have to discuss with the accountant anyway.

The best accountants I have come accross in Bulgaria are Rex Consulting. Their website is: www.rexconsulting.com. I have personally met and dealt with Venzi and Greta and they are great.

When I sell land I will pay the Capital Gains in Bulgaria and transfer the money from my company account to my Irish account. I will then pay revenue any top up required (i.e. there's a double taxation agreement so you can offset CGT paid in Bulgaria)

I bought a couple of plots of land along the coast over the last year or so.

Good luck with your investment,
 
Excuse me cutting in but I have a question about property in Bulgaria, I see quiet a number of houses advertised near Silistra for as little as €10k most of them have bathroom electric etc so what is the catch? thanks
 
It's very easy to find property in Bulgaria that's 10,000 euro or under if you're prepared to stay away from the Capital, the coast and the ski resorts!

I hear the town itself is a bit run down and not up to much but the surrounding countryside and villages is really nice (great scenery etc).

If you're looking for a nice village I would stick to north east bulgaria close to the coast line. Prices are not as expensive as the south and there will be significant improvements to infrastructure as tourism grows. They are building 3 golf course up north so far with more to come. You don't have to go too far from the coast to get a nice cheap property if you go inland a bit. Of course the trade off is that as you are a bit away from the touristy resorts the infrastructure is poor, problems with electricity (plenty of outages), nobody to collect rubbish etc etc.

Good luck!

Silistra
 
Marcecie said:
Excuse me cutting in but I have a question about property in Bulgaria, I see quiet a number of houses advertised near Silistra for as little as €10k most of them have bathroom electric etc so what is the catch? thanks
Click to expand...
Presumably the catch is that the chances of increasing house prices and/or decent rental market in those locations is slim.
 
Yes exactly. If you're buying a house for yourself and you're not too concerned about beaches or capital appreciation then why not buy the 10,000 euro house. If you want to make a bit of money buy a house up the northern coastline not too far from the coast, renovate it and sell it on.
 
hjrdee said:
Just investigating the Bulgarian market at the moment in relation to investing and came across a confusing point.

In order to purchase land in Bulgaria you need to set up a company as foreigners cannot currently purchase land. So far so good. However, if I choose to sell the land, presumably the company is liable to CGT on the sale of the land. Again fine, however this means that the proceeds of the sale are also the property of the company. So now in order for me to claim the profits from the company I become liable to Income Tax.

Am I correct in this? If this is the case it would seem something to be aware of.

Perhaps someone with experience in this might be able to clarify. Thanks
Click to expand...
We recently decided to purchase property in Ukraine and were told that we needed to set up a company. As a result of setting up the company we were given social security numbers and then found that all we needed was the number. We then purchased the property in our own names and are winding up the company. Check to see if the same applies in Bulgaria because you will face the double taxation issue if you do not.
 
Here's a very good map of bulgaria for those who are interested...

[broken link removed]
 
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