About SAF-T
The Standard Audit File for Tax ("SAF-T") is a structured electronic format for the submission of the detailed accounting information of a business to the revenue authorities in a standardized and machine-readable way. Bulgaria will introduce mandatory SAF-T reporting in several waves starting from 2026.
What is the status of SAF-T introduction in Bulgaria?
The legislation to implement SAF-T is already in force. In November 2023, a draft of the Bulgarian SAF-T schema was published. It is expected that shortly the National Revenue Agency will publish the final SAF-T schema and the guidelines and nomenclatures for reporting. The first mandatory SAF-T reports will start to be submitted from the beginning of 2026.
Which businesses will be required to submit SAF-T reports?
SAF-T reporting will become mandatory for businesses in several waves:
- from 2026 for large enterprises with annual net revenue exceeding BGN 300 m. / EUR 153 m. or annual net tax and social security liabilities exceeding BGN 3.5 m. / EUR 1.8 m.;
- from 2027 for large, medium and small enterprises with annual net revenue exceeding BGN 300 m. / EUR 153 m. or annual net tax and social security liabilities exceeding BGN 3.5 m. / EUR 1.8 m.;
- from 2028 for large, medium and small enterprises with annual net revenue exceeding BGN 15 m. / EUR 7.7 m. or annual net tax and social security liabilities exceeding BGN 1.5 m. / EUR 0.8 m.;
- from 2029 for all large, medium and small enterprises;
- from 2030 for all VAT-registered enterprises.
The criteria for the category of enterprise under the Accountancy Act, annual net revenue and annual net tax and social security liabilities are assessed for two years in the past (i.e., reporting obligation will arise for 2026 if the criteria were met by the enterprise as at the end of 2023).
What will have to be reported with SAF-T?
SAF-T reports will cover detailed business and accounting information including:
- identification data for the taxpayer, including related parties and ultimate owners;
- chart of accounts and all accounting entries;
- all purchase and sales invoices, including all suppliers and customers;
- all incoming and outgoing payments;
- all assets and inventory and transactions with them;
- business nomenclatures and tax codes.
In total several hundred separate mandatory data points will have to be reported with SAF-T (out of close to 1,000 data points in total).
How often will SAF-T reports have to be submitted?
SAF-T reports will have to be submitted on a monthly basis by the deadline for submission of VAT returns (14 days following the reporting month). An annual SAF-T report covering only assets and asset transactions will have to be submitted by the deadline for the annual corporate tax return (30 June following the reporting year). A SAF-T report including information about inventory and inventory movements will have to be submitted upon request by the Bulgarian revenue authorities.
For each wave the first 6 monthly SAF-T reports can be freely corrected by the deadline for submission of the seventh monthly SAF-T report.
How can PwC help you with SAF-T implementation?
We can assist businesses in all stages of their SAF-T implementation journey. In particular, PwC can help with:
- understanding the SAF-T requirements and implication for your business;
- assessing the readiness of your accounting information for SAF-T reporting - are all mandatory data points captured in your accounting software in the right format and quality;
- preparation of the mandatory SAF-T reports
- licensing our cloud-based software solution Tax Reporting Hub, which allows businesses to prepare SAF-T reports themselves.
