Romanians Move Their Companies to Bulgaria: High Taxes Push Romanian Businesses Across the Border. Taxes Are Half There
We were recently contacted by one of the most important media groups in Romania, Mediafax, which also owns the news television channel Antena 3 CNN, for the production of a material entitled: “Romanians Move Their Companies to Bulgaria: High Taxes Push Romanian Businesses Across the Border. Taxes Are Half There.”
Our colleague, Adrian Sipos, gave an interview highlighting the following:
“In this moment, there are 7,421 companies in Bulgaria with Romanian capital, ownership, or management. Looking at the past few years, between 2019 and 2023 the number of new registrations was relatively stable — for instance, 366 in 2019 and 350 in 2023 — but since 2024 the trend has clearly been upward. Last year, 408 new companies were registered, and in the first seven months of 2025 we already have 328 registrations, which is 37.8% more than in the same period of 2024.
In terms of business size, about 16% of Romanian companies in Bulgaria report annual turnovers above €100,000. Nearly 9% exceed €500,000, while 6.3% surpass €1 million. Among the larger players, almost 200 Romanian companies — or 2.7% of the total — record annual sales of over €5 million. This shows that we are not only dealing with structures created for tax optimization, but also with solid businesses, with real operations and a consistent market presence.
At the same time, there is also a significant number of Romanian companies registered in Bulgaria that do not conduct any real economic activity. These are usually established for strictly administrative or fiscal purposes — most often for registering high-capacity vehicles or holding real estate, taking advantage of lower costs and taxes compared to Romania. This practice remains widespread, and I personally know many concrete cases.”
The Antena 3 CNN material also analyzed the fiscal context:
- Following the wave of tax increases in the summer of 2025, more and more Romanian entrepreneurs are considering relocating their businesses to Bulgaria.
- Bulgaria offers a 10% corporate tax and a 5% dividend tax, compared to 16% and 10% in Romania (with dividends rising to 15% from January 2026).
- Currently, there are over 7,400 Romanian-owned companies active in Bulgaria.
The investigation further revealed the existence of consultancy firms promoting tax optimization strategies at the edge of legality — such as issuing fictitious invoices for consultancy services to artificially reduce taxable profits in Romania.
Expert opinions featured in the material include:
- Adrian Bența, tax consultant: “If such services have no economic substance, then we are talking about introducing fictitious expenses in the accounting system in order to reduce profit tax in Romania. This is an illegal cost optimization, since those consultancy services are not actually provided.”
- Adrian Negrescu, economic analyst: “Even if a company moves its headquarters and fiscal residency to Bulgaria, it is very likely that the Romanian tax authority (ANAF) will still levy taxes on the activity effectively carried out in Romania.”
In an official response to Antena 3 CNN, ANAF confirmed that inspections have been carried out in recent years targeting shell companies, acknowledging the existence of relocation practices aimed at avoiding VAT and other taxes in Romania.
