Malta or Bulgaria?

[c4labs]

I pay 100€ for my accounting (included annual statement and they represent me for the VAT and tax declarations)
so 1200€ per year which is not expensive.

Also, they do not charge you for each question or call that you have.

I did not have any trouble with the bank and YES god damn YES, they rip you off. Same fees as the ones previously mentioned, 7-10€ to receive SEPA transfers, same to send them. Around 10€ monthly fee and also even if you have the EURO bank account (sub account as the main one is in bgn), they will sometimes take you the currency exchange fee ! (YES, to transfer from EUR account to EUR account, it will magically transit to your BGN account for 2% fees)

I cannot wait to see BG in the euro zone...😡

For banks, I suggest Unicredit (part of a big foreign group)
Bulgarian american credit bank (bacb) not convinced BUT they offer a 50€ flat fee per month (so if you need to receive and wiretransfer a lot, it is an option).
DSK bank : NO WAY, avoid it like the plague (old communist bank acquired by OTP but still communist style). They have an english direct line ..but they all speak Bulgarian and you will suffer to have a good communication in English. Expensive bank too.

Also, it is recommended to have a bank account in BG for the taxes and the VAT payments. The administration will like it. I heard that some foreigners with bank accounts abroad were under the radar of the administration and they do not hesitate to send you people checking your business/accounting.

I did not have any fee to open EUR bank accounts, not sure about USD accounts.

 

[Dubsize]

c4labs said:
I pay 100€ for my accounting (included annual statement and they represent me for the VAT and tax declarations)
so 1200€ per year which is not expensive.

Also, they do not charge you for each question or call that you have.

I did not have any trouble with the bank and YES god damn YES, they rip you off. Same fees as the ones previously mentioned, 7-10€ to receive SEPA transfers, same to send them. Around 10€ monthly fee and also even if you have the EURO bank account (sub account as the main one is in bgn), they will sometimes take you the currency exchange fee ! (YES, to transfer from EUR account to EUR account, it will magically transit to your BGN account for 2% fees)

I cannot wait to see BG in the euro zone...😡

For banks, I suggest Unicredit (part of a big foreign group)
Bulgarian american credit bank (bacb) not convinced BUT they offer a 50€ flat fee per month (so if you need to receive and wiretransfer a lot, it is an option).
DSK bank : NO WAY, avoid it like the plague (old communist bank acquired by OTP but still communist style). They have an english direct line ..but they all speak Bulgarian and you will suffer to have a good communication in English. Expensive bank too.

Also, it is recommended to have a bank account in BG for the taxes and the VAT payments. The administration will like it. I heard that some foreigners with bank accounts abroad were under the radar of the administration and they do not hesitate to send you people checking your business/accounting.

I did not have any fee to open EUR bank accounts, not sure about USD accounts.
Click to expand...

sounds good.
Can you share the name of your accounting firm?
Also - do you have online banking in english or it's only in Bulgarian?

 

[blockchain4ever]

Crazy prices.

 

[JohnLocke]

It doesn't need to be a scam it could also just be that they are cheaper in Bulgaria as the average accounting services in other countries like the UK.

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[countryfree]

Regarding banks, I know Raiffeisen is in Bulgaria, and I can only recommend them. I was very happy with their services when I was in Switzerland. Back to accounting firms, I wish someone could give the address of a good one. A firm which requires a visit to begin with, as I believe it would be cheaper to make a quick trip to Sofia (I'm in Europe) than to hire an accountant remotely. I can also add that hotels and restaurants are cheap in BG.

 

[Jav]

Hi again,
Zara are aiming for foreign companies who are ready to pay extra for a first class services. Local companies and especially small to medium can't afford such fees so there is other options. Banks are good in general and there is English online banking. For EUR transfers I recommend to use some of the payment processors like Leupay because these can be connected to your company and you pay less in fees. I can help with all here but I am not a service provider. If anyone is interested please pm or I can leave email if it is OK by the rules.

 

[LisaSimpson]

i also advise raiffeisen, they speak english well, their forms are in english, the process to open a business account is straight forward, they don't bother you with unnecessary financial products.

 

[Jav]

All banks would have forms in English and basically is a stress free process. Unicredit, Raifaisen DSK I would also recommend FIB which is local but with good customer care and all of them guarantee accounts up to 100k as per EU rulles

 

[c4labs]

LaMonica said:
Hi, tried to send you PM regarding Bulgaria but it seems i cant as I dont have enough posts

Can you please PM me with some sites that register Bulgaria companies by remote and accountant services, merchant account or online payment solutions can be of interest as well
Click to expand...

Done 🙂 sorry for the late answer

Jav said:
All banks would have forms in English and basically is a stress free process. Unicredit, Raifaisen DSK I would also recommend FIB which is local but with good customer care and all of them guarantee accounts up to 100k as per EU rulles
Click to expand...

DSK do not have any form in English, I can tell you 🙁 (except the online backoffice, EN/BG), and "stress free" is not what I had. Also, if you think because you are a "corporate" client they will be very pro, it will not happen. It will be a waste (of time, energy, money) to go to DSK when you can go to Unicredit.
I spit on DSK but at the end, it works and does the job but it is a bit expensive and very complicated when you have an issue. (Ex: when I registered, I needed to give a foreign phone number to link it to my bank account, they made a mistake in the country code +310027845xxxx instead of +312784xxxx and I needed to fly to Sofia to fix it in person because they did not trust me that changing the 2 zero will make the number valid)

 

[jackfrost]

Martin Everson said:
If you are not going to live in Malta then forget Malta. You will end up paying 35% corporate tax rate and will not get the tax refund eek¤%&. Tax refund requires having a local Malta iban to get it. Plus to open a corporate account you really need to be resident in Malta. All Malta banks are closing the doors to non-residents so if your not a resident of Malta then forget it long term. Satabank was last hope among the international banks in Malta but has compliance issues. So does the other bank I don't want to mention that has issues with U.S also.
Click to expand...

"requires having a local Malta iban"

Why?

 

[Martin Everson]

jackfrost said:
"requires having a local Malta iban"

Why?
Click to expand...

Ask Malta taxman.

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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[jackfrost]

I did "No there is no such restriction."

 

[jackfrost]

@Martin Everson can you point me in any direction or provide any infos on why you would indeed need a local iban?

thanks

 

[Martin Everson]

jackfrost said:
I did "No there is no such restriction."
Click to expand...

That's interesting. What did they say exactly?

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[jackfrost]

Martin Everson said:
That's interesting. What did they say exactly?
Click to expand...

To be more specific i asked 2 Maltese accountants / lawyers if there is a need of a local Maltese IBAN bank account to receive the 6/7 refund or if they could be received to any EURO area EUR SEPA IBAN account. Both said no you can receive them to any eur sepa iban account outside of Malta. The above quote is the reply from the last.

I haven't found specific wording for this yet except for the Malta LTD VAT refunds which they will pay out to any EUR SEPA IBAN.

Do you know of cases first hand which were denied refunds for the outside holding to a EUR SEPA IBAN based on not having a local bank account or were those cases that wanted the refunds to be wired out side of the EU / SWIFT / other currency / whatever?

 

[Martin Everson]

jackfrost said:
To be more specific i asked 2 Maltese accountants / lawyers if there is a need of a local Maltese IBAN bank account to receive the 6/7 refund or if they could be received to any EURO area EUR SEPA IBAN account. Both said no you can receive them to any eur sepa iban account outside of Malta. The above quote is the reply from the last.

I haven't found specific wording for this yet except for the Malta LTD VAT refunds which they will pay out to any EUR SEPA IBAN.

Do you know of cases first hand which were denied refunds for the outside holding to a EUR SEPA IBAN based on not having a local bank account or were those cases that wanted the refunds to be wired out side of the EU / SWIFT / other currency / whatever?
Click to expand...

I have asked my Maltese accountant about it again as he really had the issue on his books. I had referred nearly a dozen non-resident non-EU clients and all have run into the issue when BOV started closing down accounts. Their 6/7 full imputation tax refund would not be processed without a Malta IBAN being given. So either my accountant is wrong or I have misunderstood something in these clients setup or situation. I was in person with a client hearing this.

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[jackfrost]

Woud be

Martin Everson said:
I have asked my Maltese accountant about it again as he really had the issue on his books. I had referred nearly a dozen non-resident non-EU clients and all have run into the issue when BOV started closing down accounts. Their 6/7 full imputation tax refund would not be processed without a Malta IBAN being given. So either my accountant is wrong or I have misunderstood something in these clients setup or situation. I was in person with a client hearing this.
Click to expand...

Would be awesome if you could ask again

 

[Martin Everson]

jackfrost said:
Would be awesome if you could ask again
Click to expand...

Yup confirmed that you are correct....apologies.

The issue with taxman was they refused to pay the refund to a European VTB bank branch at the time ns2. They requested a local IBAN instead - I guess risk reduction. Not possible for the ruskies to get one as no one was opening accounts for them and in fact they had their company accounts closed locally. So it is not a general issue at all and will not affect 99% of Malta companies. thu&¤#

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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[jackfrost]

Martin Everson said:
Yup confirmed that you are correct....apologies.

The issue with taxman was they refused to pay the refund to a European VTB bank branch at the time ns2. They requested a local IBAN instead - I guess risk reduction. Not possible for the ruskies to get one as no one was opening accounts for them and in fact they had their company accounts closed locally. So it is not a general issue at all and will not affect 99% of Malta companies. thu&¤#
Click to expand...

Great thanks a lot!

 

[clemens]

none of these countries would suite my wallet! I'm still better on with a UK corp.

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