Bulgaria · Tax regime
Bulgaria Schengen and Eurozone Membership
Full Schengen member since 1 January 2025 (air and sea from 31 March 2024, land from 1 January 2025 per the JHA Council decision of 12 December 2024). Adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 as the 21st euro-area member, at the locked currency-board rate of 1.95583 BGN to the euro.
This is the change that repriced Bulgaria. A 10% flat tax inside Schengen was already interesting; a 10% flat tax inside Schengen AND the eurozone, with no currency risk and no border friction, is a different proposition entirely. Most published material on Bulgaria predates both events and understates the country badly.
Qualifying routes
Air and sea internal border controls lifted 31 March 2024; land border controls lifted 1 January 2025
Euro adopted 1 January 2026; conversion rate 1.95583 BGN = EUR 1; euro sole legal tender from 1 February 2026
The facts
- Total landed cost
- n/a
- Physical presence
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- Permanent residency
- n/a
- Citizenship
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- Language test
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- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Euro adoption has been inflationary in public perception and politically contested — the accession coincided with the largest deficit in the eurozone, which constrains future tax policy.
- Bulgaria's convergence was assessed off-cycle in June 2025 and approved unusually quickly; fiscal discipline post-accession is the open question and the reason the dividend-tax rise keeps resurfacing.