COUNCIL TAX

It is necessary to register for council tax at the time of, or within 60 days of, signing the title deeds. Failure to do so will result in a fine of up to 400 Bulgarian leva.
There is a fee for registering and an ongoing annual charge for services such as rubbish collection.

In Sofia we paid 80 euros to the developer's solicitor, who registered us with the local council.
We have just paid our first year's council tax (inclusive of rubbish collection) of approx. 75 euros. It is based on apartment size, location etc. and it takes approximately three months for council tax to be assessed.
We have heard however, that council tax is normally due in four equal instalments, but if the full amount is paid in the first period, there is a 5% discount.
Council tax must be paid whether the apartment is used or not and interest is charged on unpaid/overdue tax.

We have recently been notified of the Council Tax charges for our Sofia apartments for 2007. These figures will give some idea of the amounts involved.

Update 14/4/07

A few weeks ago we learnt that our council tax for the Sofia apartments had not been paid by the firm of solicitors in Sofia who were responsible for acting on our behalf for this purpose as recommended by the sales agent. We are now trying to recover our 75 euros from the sales agent. This had resulted in a small fine being added to the unpaid tax.

We have now paid the 2007 council tax. This came to to approx 71 euros per person. It must pointed out that this is charged for each co-owner. Therefore an apartment in a husband and wife's name would end up paying 142 euros. We received a 5% discount for payment in full.

Page last updated: 7th May 2007