Guide

Moving to Bulgaria

By Svetlana Junge · updated August 29, 2026

Seven steps, in the order in which they actually arise. Each step leads to the page that sets it out in full.

1. Check whether this route suits you

Bulgaria is not a tax trick but a place to live. Anyone who wants to spend part of the year in Germany and keep a home there will not be able to use the low rates, and it is better to know that in advance. Anyone prepared to move their centre of life will find on the southern coast a country inside the European legal framework, with the euro as its currency and a cost of living well below the German level.

2. Choose the region

Between Sveti Vlas and the Turkish border lie very different places: busy coastal centres, quiet villages inland, towns with year-round infrastructure such as Burgas and Pomorie. Anyone who visits in winter sees the difference more clearly than in August. The location pages describe each place individually, with position, connections and price level.

3. Register your residence

Freedom of movement applies to Union citizens. For a stay beyond the short-stay period, registration takes place with the Migration Directorate, which issues a certificate. Third-country nationals need their own residence permit; owning property alone confers no right of residence. The residence guide sets out the categories of status and the conditions individually.

4. Housing: buy or rent

Union citizens can acquire buildings and apartments directly. Restrictions apply to land depending on citizenship; buyers from third countries usually acquire land through a Bulgarian company. The buying process describes reservation, checks, the notary appointment and registration step by step. Anyone who wants to experience the winter first rents for the first year and buys afterwards.

5. Actually change your tax residence

This is the step on which most depends and which is most often underestimated. As long as a dwelling remains available in Germany, residence under section 8 of the Fiscal Code continues, and with it unlimited tax liability under section 1(1) sentence 1 of the Income Tax Act. Anyone holding at least 1 per cent of a corporation must also have the exit tax under section 6 of the Foreign Tax Act examined, and before moving rather than after. The statute allows payment in seven annual instalments on application, and the claim lapses on a return within seven years subject to certain conditions.

6. A company, where it fits the plan

For the self-employed and for business owners the Bulgarian company is part of the route. Corporate tax of 10 per cent, distributions at 5 per cent, bookkeeping and annual accounts under Bulgarian law. Here too, actual local management is what decides. Anyone who merely rents an address and continues to run things from Germany has moved nothing and has created a risk instead of an advantage.

7. Settling in: account, health, daily life

After the move come opening an account, health insurance, vehicle registration where needed and schooling. Language is the point at which it is decided whether a stay becomes a home; the Cyrillic alphabet takes a few weeks, the language stays with you longer. The settling-in guide covers authorities, healthcare, safety and daily life in detail.