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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

Bulgaria — NRA SAF-T pilot 2026, no B2B mandate

Bulgaria is the EU CTC laggard. The NRA (Национална агенция за приходите, National Revenue Agency) has launched a voluntary SAF-T pilot for 2026, with mandatory rollout planned for 2027 (large taxpayers). No B2B mandate is in force or officially planned; alignment with the ViDA directive is expected for 2028-2030. EN 16931 compliance is confined to voluntary B2G via PEPPOL.

Regulatory timeline

  • 1 January 2007 — EU accession and VAT Act. Bulgaria joins the European Union and transposes VAT Directive 2006/112/EC through the Закон за данък върху добавената стойност (ЗДДС, VAT Act). The NRA (Национална агенция за приходите, National Revenue Agency) becomes the sole tax authority.
  • 2010 — Sales ledger and purchase ledger. Every Bulgarian VAT taxpayer must file a monthly sales ledger and purchase ledger in XML, plus the VAT return "Справка-декларация ДДС". First embryo of structural per-invoice reporting in Bulgaria, but with no real-time transmission.
  • 1 November 2019 — Online fiscal cash registers. Ordinance H-18/2006 takes effect: every B2C merchant must use a Фискално устройство (certified fiscal cash register) connected in real time to the NRA via the NRA protocol. Registration wave spread to 2020 for small retailers.
  • 18 April 2019 — Mandatory B2G PEPPOL. Transposition of EU Directive 2014/55 through amendments to the Public Procurement Act: every Bulgarian contracting authority must be able to receive EN 16931 invoices. Bulgaria adopts PEPPOL via the SAEG (State Agency for E-Government, ДАЕУ) as its main infrastructure.
  • 2023-2024 — SAF-T BG preparation. The Ministry of Finance opens consultations on a SAF-T BG (Bulgarian Standard Audit File for Tax), inspired by the Romanian D406 model but lighter. First XML schema drafts published in 2024.
  • 2025-2026 — Voluntary SAF-T BG pilot. Progressive pilot program: the "Особено големи данъкоплатци" (Very large taxpayers, NACE-coded) start voluntary monthly SAF-T BG submissions. No universal B2B mandate before 2027 according to the NRA roadmap.
  • 1 January 2027 — Mandatory SAF-T BG (large taxpayers). Announced timeline: very large taxpayers move to mandatory monthly SAF-T transmission. Progressive widening expected 2028-2029 by turnover. No universal per-invoice B2B mandate before ViDA in 2030.
  • 1 July 2030 — ViDA cross-border DRR. Alignment with "VAT in the Digital Age": structured electronic invoicing mandatory for intra-EU B2B transactions. Bulgaria is one of the least advanced EU Member States on CTC as of writing.

Deep dives — 10 dedicated pages

Ten dedicated pages drill into every dimension of the Bulgarian e-invoicing and EDI landscape — the reforms and framework (SAF-T 2026, the absence of a B2B mandate, B2G Peppol since 2019, the ViDA roadmap to 2030), the technical specifications (20% ДДС VAT, the ЕИК universal identifier, the lev → euro transition), and the real-world B2B usage that operates without any national mandate (retail EANCOM Lidl/Kaufland, heavy-industry EDI Aurubis/Lukoil/Solvay, е-връчване e-delivery).

Reforms and framework

  • SAF-T 2026 — phased NRA rollout · OECD tax audit file mandatory 1 January 2026 for large enterprises (~450 entities, turnover > BGN 300M or taxes > BGN 3.5M), after a July-December 2025 NRA pilot. Monthly filing by the 14th, phased rollout to 2030.
  • No B2B mandate — the CTC laggard · No B2B e-invoice mandate in force or planned: voluntary e-invoicing, buyer's consent required (art. 114 ЗДДС VAT Act). Non-CTC model, no real-time clearance. The binding deadline will come from the EU via ViDA (cross-border DRR 2030).
  • Peppol B2G — public e-invoicing since 2019 · Mandatory receiving of EN 16931 e-invoices by contracting authorities since 1 November 2019 (art. 115a ЗОП Public Procurement Act, transposing 2014/55/EU). Pivot format Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (UBL). Supplier issuance voluntary.
  • ViDA Bulgaria 2026-2030 · ViDA trajectory: no national B2B mandate in 2026, minimal blocks (SAF-T, B2G Peppol, e-връчване). Directive (EU) 2025/516 removes the buyer's consent and mandates the cross-border DRR on 1 July 2030. National CTC model still to be defined.

Technical specs

  • ДДС — VAT regimes (20 / 9 / 0%) · Standard 20% since 1999 (one of the EU's most stable), reduced 9% limited to hotel accommodation, zero 0% (export, intra-EU). The temporary 9% on restaurants/books ended in 2025. Threshold €51,130 since 2026. ЗДДС VAT Act, monthly filing via the NRA.
  • ЕИК / EIK — universal 9-digit identifier · Unified Identification Code (Единен идентификационен код): 9 digits (13 for branches) with a modulo-11 checksum, issued by the Registry Agency via the Търговски регистър. Tax, statistical and commercial ID. VAT number = BG + ЕИК, Peppol ICD.
  • Lev → Euro — adoption on 1 January 2026 · Euro adoption on 1 January 2026 (21st member), fixed irrevocable rate EUR 1 = BGN 1.95583. The lev was pegged to the euro by a currency board since 1997. Dual circulation January 2026, euro sole legal currency since 1 February 2026. EUR switch of invoices.

Real-world B2B usage

  • Retail EDIFACT — Lidl, Kaufland, Billa, Metro · EANCOM 2002 S4 (the GS1 subset of UN/EDIFACT) imposed by contract: Lidl България (no.1 since 2024), Kaufland, Billa (Rewe), Fantastico (Bulgarian), Metro, T-Market (Maxima Grupė). ORDERS / DESADV / INVOIC, GTIN/GLN codes. Private requirement, no legal mandate.
  • Industrial EDI — Aurubis, Lukoil, Stomana, Solvay · Heavy sectors: Aurubis Bulgaria (copper, Pirdop — South-East Europe's largest smelter), Lukoil Neftohim Burgas (the largest Balkan refinery), Stomana Industry (steel, Pernik), Solvay Sodi (soda, Devnya — Europe's largest). EDIFACT (DELFOR/INVOIC) + OFTP2.
  • е-връчване — secure electronic delivery · Public electronic delivery service (equivalent of registered mail with A/R), at edelivery.egov.bg, operated by the Ministry of e-Government. eIDAS authentication, qualified timestamp, acknowledgement of receipt. An e-government block, distinct from e-invoicing.

Technical schema

Unlike neighbouring Romania (RO e-Factura with per-invoice clearance), Bulgaria has not put in place a mandatory per-invoice transmission system. The scheme rests on online fiscal cash registers (B2C) and the SAF-T BG under construction (B2B).

  • SAF-T BG (in pilot 2025-2026) — XML schema based on OECD SAF-T 2.0, simplified compared with the Hungarian or Romanian models. Monthly submission to NRA via REST API authenticated by KEP (qualified electronic signature) certificate.
  • PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 (UBL 2.1) — used for B2G over the Bulgarian PEPPOL network. The SAEG (State Agency for E-Government, ДАЕУ) runs the CAIS public service for access to electronic services.
  • NRA Protocol — proprietary NRA protocol for real-time transmission of fiscal cash registers (B2C). Compact binary format, symmetric signature with a per-device shared key, delivery over HTTPS to nra.bg/saf-t.
  • EDIFACT EANCOM — used in retail (Kaufland Bulgaria, Lidl, Billa, Fantastico, T Market, Metro Cash & Carry Bulgaria) and pharma. INVOIC D.96A remains the norm.
  • ДДС идентификационен номер: VAT identifier with prefix BG + 9 or 10 digits. PEPPOL schemeID 9926 for BG:VAT.
xmlbg-saft-snippet.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AuditFile xmlns="urn:OECD:StandardAuditFile-Tax:BG_1.0">
  <Header>
    <AuditFileVersion>1.0</AuditFileVersion>
    <AuditFileCountry>BG</AuditFileCountry>
    <TaxRegistrationNumber>BG131272562</TaxRegistrationNumber>
    <TaxAccountingBasis>F</TaxAccountingBasis>
    <CompanyName>Ediverse Demo Sofia EOOD</CompanyName>
    <FiscalYear>2026</FiscalYear>
    <StartDate>2026-05-01</StartDate>
    <EndDate>2026-05-31</EndDate>
    <CurrencyCode>BGN</CurrencyCode>
    <DateCreated>2026-06-15</DateCreated>
  </Header>
  <SourceDocuments>
    <SalesInvoices>
      <Invoice>
        <InvoiceNo>2026-0142</InvoiceNo>
        <InvoiceDate>2026-05-19</InvoiceDate>
        <InvoiceType>FT</InvoiceType>
        <TaxableAmount>1000.00</TaxableAmount>
        <TaxAmount>200.00</TaxAmount>
        <TaxCode>STD20</TaxCode>
      </Invoice>
    </SalesInvoices>
  </SourceDocuments>
</AuditFile>

Submission flow

As of May 2026, Bulgaria is the least advanced EU Member State on B2B e-invoicing. No centralised per-invoice submission flow is mandatory. The monthly VAT return "Справка-декларация ДДС" remains aggregated by rate.

textbg-current-flow.txt
┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐
│ Seller BG    │──> │ PDF / EDIFACT /  │──> │ Buyer BG     │
│ (ERP)        │    │ UBL (at choice)  │    │ (ERP)        │
└──────┬───────┘    └─────────┬────────┘    └──────┬───────┘
       │                      │                    │
       │ (Monthly aggregated VAT return)           │
       └──────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              v
                  ┌──────────────────────────┐
                  │ NRA — VAT ledgers        │
                  │ (sales/purchase XML)     │
                  └──────────────────────────┘

The SAF-T BG pilot (from 2025-2026) introduces for the first time a per-taxpayer structured flow: very large taxpayers (Особено големи данъкоплатци) must transmit their SAF-T monthly in simplified XML. No real-time per-invoice transmission is planned before ViDA.

For B2G, the flow goes through PEPPOL via SAEG. Public tenders published on CAIS EOP (Централизирана автоматизирана информационна система Електронни обществени поръчки) increasingly require EN 16931 invoices in response to "поръчки" (tenders).

On the retail side, EDIFACT is alive: Kaufland Bulgaria and Lidl Bulgaria follow the Schwarz Group standards, Billa applies REWE Bulgaria rules, Fantastico (national chain) and T Market run their own EANCOM profiles. Metro Cash & Carry Bulgaria uses Metro AG standards. On the automotive side, Bulgaria has no OEM plant but several Tier 1 suppliers (Bosch Sofia, ZF Sofia, SE Bordnetze, Yazaki Bulgaria).

Validation

  • NRA — National Revenue Agency: nra.bg — sole Bulgarian tax authority, manages VAT ledgers and the SAF-T BG pilot.
  • Ministry of Finance: minfin.bg — Bulgarian Ministry of Finance, VAT legal basis and tax policy.
  • SAEG — State Agency for E-Government (ДАЕУ): e-gov.bg — State Agency for E-Government, BG PEPPOL Authority.
  • CAIS EOP: app.eop.bg — Central electronic public procurement system.
  • VAT Act (ЗДДС): lex.bg — ЗДДС — full consolidated text of the Bulgarian VAT Act.
  • helger PEPPOL validator: peppol.helger.com — PEPPOL BIS 3.0 + EN 16931 Schematron for B2G UBL.

Common pitfalls

  1. Variable-length VAT-BG. The VAT-BG follows BG\d{9,10}: 9 digits for legal persons (based on EIK / БУЛСТАТ), 10 digits for natural persons (based on ЕГН Единен граждански номер). Strict regex BG\d{9} wrongly rejects individual entrepreneurs.
  2. VAT rates 20 / 9 / 0%. Standard 20%, reduced 9% (hospitality and restaurants until 31 December 2023, temporarily extended to several categories: heating, bread, school textbooks, diapers). Since 2024, the 9% rate is restricted to hospitality: check the date of transaction.
  3. Mandatory B2C fiscal cash register. Ordinance H-18/2006 requires a certified fiscal cash register for every B2C cash or card transaction. Any collection without a Фискален бон (fiscal receipt with QR code and tax number) faces heavy sanctions. Foreign payment terminals (Stripe, Square without local integration) are not sufficient.
  4. Cyrillic in EDIFACT. Bulgarian uses the Cyrillic alphabet. UNOA does not cover Cyrillic. Use UNOC (ISO-8859-5) or UNOY (UTF-8) in UNB+; concentrators that silently transliterate cause inconsistent names and addresses (София → Sofia with loss of accents).
  5. BGN pegged to EUR. The lev has been pegged to the euro since 1997 (currency board) at a fixed rate 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN. Euro area accession is expected in 2026-2027 subject to convergence criteria. ERPs must handle dual currency during the transition and check the ISO 4217 code (BGN before, EUR after).
  • Romania — Balkan neighbour, RO e-Factura clearance vs BG no-mandate.
  • Greece — post-fact myDATA, a more advanced model for Bulgaria.
  • Hungary — NAV Online Számla, another Balkan pioneer of real-time reporting.
  • Turkey — southern neighbour, GİB e-Fatura on UBL-TR, regional comparison.
  • PEPPOL — SAEG (ДАЕУ) is the BG PEPPOL Authority.
  • Official sources: nra.bg, minfin.bg, e-gov.bg, lex.bg — VAT Act.