SAF-T — phased rollout 2026-2030

SAF-T (Standard Audit File for Tax) is an XML file standardised by the OECD that lets a tax administration retrieve a company's entire accounting — general ledger, invoices, payments — in a single format. In Bulgaria, the Национална агенция за приходите (НАП / NRA, the tax agency) made it mandatory on 1 January 2026 for large enterprises, following a voluntary pilot in late 2025.

History — from the 2025 pilot to the 2026 mandate

Until 2025 Bulgaria had no requirement to transmit structured accounting to the administration. VAT control rested on the purchase/sales ledgers (дневници за покупки и продажби) attached to the monthly ДДС return — an old and limited format. SAF-T closes that gap and aligns Bulgaria with its neighbours (Romania since 2022, Poland JPK since 2016) that already moved to a standardised audit file.

The official calendar published by the NRA prescribes a strictly progressive, largest-first rollout. Phase 1, in force since 1 January 2026, targets only the ~450 largest entities in the country — those under the Large Taxpayers and Insurers directorate ("Едри данъкоплатци и осигурители"). The thresholds: net turnover above BGN 300 million for the 2023 financial year, or total taxes and social contributions above BGN 3.5 million.

2022-2024  | The Национална агенция за приходите (НАП / NRA, National
           | Revenue Agency) announces the SAF-T project as part of tax
           | control modernisation and VAT anti-fraud efforts.
           |
2025-05    | The NRA publishes draft technical specifications and the XSD
           | schema — structure derived from the OECD SAF-T 2.0 standard.
           |
2025-07    | A voluntary 6-month pilot launches with selected large
           | taxpayers (the "Едри данъкоплатци и осигурители" — Large
           | Taxpayers and Insurers directorate).
           |
2026-01-01 | Mandate enters force for large enterprises (~450 entities):
           | turnover > BGN 300M in 2023 OR taxes > BGN 3.5M. Monthly filing
           | of accounting + purchase/sale invoices + payments by the 14th
           | of the following month.
           |
2027-2028  | Extension to medium-sized enterprises (progressive phasing
           | announced by the NRA based on turnover / headcount thresholds).
           |
2030       | Target: generalisation to all taxable persons, including
           | micro-enterprises — aligned with the EU ViDA window.

Governance — NRA + Ministry of Finance

Bulgarian SAF-T is run by the Национална агенция за приходите (NRA, National Revenue Agency), a public body under the Министерство на финансите (Ministry of Finance). The NRA publishes the XSD schema, the technical guide ("Технически изисквания") and operates the filing channel via its e-services portal (portal.nra.bg), authenticated with a qualified electronic certificate (КЕП — квалифициран електронен подпис).

The legal basis sits in the Данъчно-осигурителен процесуален кодекс (ДОПК — Tax and Social Insurance Procedure Code), amended to introduce the SAF-T obligation and its phased entry into force. Detailed specifications (structure, codes, validation rules) are set by order of the NRA executive director and published in the Държавен вестник (State Gazette).

Technical schema — SAF-T XML, 5 OECD sections

Bulgarian SAF-T follows the canonical OECD structure (version 2.0), organised as a header plus four major data blocks:

• Header — entity identity (ЕИК / EIK, BG VAT number), period, default currency (EUR since 2026), schema version.
• MasterFiles — chart of accounts (GeneralLedgerAccounts), customers, suppliers, VAT rate table (TaxTable).
• GeneralLedgerEntries — ledger entries, journals, debit/credit movements.
• SourceDocuments — sales invoices, purchase invoices, payments, goods movements.
• Assets — fixed-asset register (filed annually, not monthly).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AuditFile xmlns="mf:bg:nra:saft:schema:v1.0">
  <Header>
    <AuditFileVersion>1.0</AuditFileVersion>
    <AuditFileCountry>BG</AuditFileCountry>
    <AuditFileDateCreated>2026-02-10</AuditFileDateCreated>
    <TaxEntity>Company</TaxEntity>
    <Company>
      <RegistrationNumber>831915840</RegistrationNumber>
      <Name>Софийски Машини ЕООД</Name>
      <TaxRegistrationNumber>BG831915840</TaxRegistrationNumber>
    </Company>
    <SelectionCriteria>
      <PeriodStart>1</PeriodStart>
      <PeriodStartYear>2026</PeriodStartYear>
      <PeriodEnd>1</PeriodEnd>
      <PeriodEndYear>2026</PeriodEndYear>
    </SelectionCriteria>
    <DefaultCurrencyCode>EUR</DefaultCurrencyCode>
  </Header>
  <MasterFiles>
    <GeneralLedgerAccounts/>
    <Customers/>
    <Suppliers/>
    <TaxTable/>
  </MasterFiles>
  <GeneralLedgerEntries/>
  <SourceDocuments>
    <SalesInvoices/>
    <PurchaseInvoices/>
    <Payments/>
  </SourceDocuments>
</AuditFile>

Bulgarian SAF-T vs regional neighbours

Bulgaria opts for the periodic SAF-T model (like neighbouring Romania) rather than the Greek real-time model (myDATA) or the Hungarian one (RTIR). It is a cautious choice: the accounting-reporting infrastructure precedes any move to the continuous transactional reporting that ViDA will require around 2030.

Adoption — phases and thresholds

• Phase 1 (1 January 2026) — ~450 large entities, thresholds turnover > BGN 300M (2023) or taxes/contributions > BGN 3.5M. First monthly filing expected in February 2026.
• Phase 2 (2027-2028) — medium-sized enterprises, by turnover-threshold tiers, calendar detailed by the NRA.
• Phase 3 (≤ 2030) — generalisation to all taxable businesses, including micro-enterprises, inside the ViDA alignment window.
• Grace period — the NRA announced a penalty-leniency phase during the first months after each phase switch, to give ERPs time to adapt to the schema.

Common pitfalls

• Confusing SAF-T and e-invoice. SAF-T does not replace issuing invoices; it transmits the accounting picture afterwards. No prior transactional clearance is required.
• EUR currency from 2026. With euro adoption on 1 January 2026, the DefaultCurrencyCode field must read EUR. Earlier BGN entries converted at the fixed rate EUR 1 = BGN 1.95583 must remain traceable (see the Lev → Euro page).
• Wrong RegistrationNumber. The identifier field must carry the 9-digit ЕИК / EIK; the BG + EIK VAT number goes into TaxRegistrationNumber. Swapping them fails validation.
• Due on the 14th, not month-end. The monthly filing (accounting, invoices, payments) is due by the 14th of the following month — tighter than the standard monthly ДДС return.
• Encoding and Cyrillic characters. The schema requires UTF-8. Entity names in Cyrillic (Кирилица) that are mis-encoded break XSD validation on the NRA side.

Cross-links

• Bulgaria hub — full view
• No B2B mandate — Bulgaria, the CTC laggard
• ДДС — VAT regimes (20 / 9 / 0%)
• ЕИК / EIK — 9-digit identifier
• ViDA Bulgaria 2026-2030
• Lev → Euro — 2026 monetary transition
• NRA — Национална агенция за приходите
• Ministry of Finance — Министерство на финансите