Importing my car from Turkey to Bulgaria

I can share my experience. I came on my car from Ukraine. And 6 months, I could stay without any problems. After 6 months I left Bulgaria and came  back. And it was no problem. Police checked me twice
Important is 6 months

I believe the key issues are: time in country, and where it was registered.

You can drive non-BG car in Bulgaria for some months, before you need to register. If you are spending time in BG & TR, then you could probably drive back and forth. However, you need a vignette (even for non-BG car), so you will be in the system... so I think you would need to be careful to make sure your vignettes matched your time in the country... otherwise it could like you have been here for years!

I think the only issue for import tax is where it was registered. EU car is OK. Non-EU car is 10% duty and 20% VAT. (I think for 10,000 euros car, it is therefore 2,000 euros of VAT, and then 1,200 euros of duty, as duty is on VAT inclusive value.)

I was at Kat this week, to register my UK car. They wanted registration document and invoice. So I think you would need to find your invoice or bill of sale from 3 years ago, and make sure it looks official (stamped if possible).

It seems a bit unfair if they base it on the invoice value of 3 years ago... so I don't know if they use this number, or discount it by x% because you've used for 3 years. I'd imagine they can look up the "book value" of your vehicle today, and base it on this (as this allows for the depreciation as you used it for 3 years, and avoids underpayment because of falsified low invoices).

UK is no longer EU, so  VAT / duty currently applies.

Fortunately, I was included in the prior treatment as I drove the car here at end of 2019, and they were able to look up my first vignette is in the system to confirm it.

I had to pay 350 leva for an eco tax... plus 150 leva for new registration documents and new Bulgarian plates... plus insurance... plus a few hundred to attorney for helping me get through the system (if you speak Bulgarian you probably don't need any help). So this is separate from VAT/duty.

With Covid crisis I couldn't do the transfer last year. However, I did drive the car regularly on the UK plates, until my UK insurance expired. However, I now realize that it should have been transferred to BG plates within 6 months, but nobody stopped/questioned me. My attorney said that as I didn't register within the correct time, there is (officially) a 200 leva "late" fine.

I got my local insurance agent to issue a BG policy last week (for my VIN only, not the UK plate, with update required within 7 days once BG plate issued), so I have been driving around for several days with this new insurance (but still UK plate), and again no issues. Now I have my shiny new BG plate, so everything should be fine now.

Thank you so much, this is very helpful!

Thank you so much for this detailed reply. I have since found out that because i have owned my car for more than 6 months then I can import it as a personal posession and not pay any tax on it.

The process seems tricky, but i seem to have the right documents and will attempt this after i arrive. The following sites were extremely helpful in this regard:

https://cars-help.com/en/qa/ (fantastic, friendly free advice here)

https://trentme.com/en/Customs_clearance_Bg/ (detailed info on the process of importing it.)

I hope this information is useful to others - once i attempt it i will post any useful information that others could use too.

Thanks again for all of your advice, and to this very useful forum!

I am not 100% sure, but I think the "personal possession" option that you mention is for a "temporary" import. If you are planning to return to another country in a year or two, then, I agree, this would be the ideal option.

If you are relocating to Bulgaria permanently, then you are just deferring the official import, and then you will have to go to Kat regularly and go through the rigmarole of changing plates! For me, once at Kat (per vehicle) is more than enough. :-)

Make sure that you have all the documents of your ownership of the car and check if the engine and car number are the same. They have to be the same.

Hi again,

You mentioned in your post that you used an attorney to help you with the process.

Would it be possible to let me know who you used - I'm trying to find an attorney who speaks English and could help with the process but so far I'm struggling.

Thanks again for all of your help

Dear All,

I have a different question. I'm planning to move to BG soon and want to get my car with me. As far as I understood, I can drive it for 6 months without BG registration. If I drive to Turkey back before 6 month ends and return to BG with car again, another 6 months will restart or do I have to register the car?

I will be driving back & forth between TR & BG once a month, so I'm planning to keep my Turkish registration as long as possible.

The car is 2004 model, if you answer for import regulations, please consider that.

Thanks in advance to everyone.

You will not have to change your car's registration. In my point of view this will not be considered an import, as long as you do not decide to sell it.

But, once I got the residence > regulation says, I need to register the car in 6 months.

Hi,

What is the last decision,

I have same topic, I can not sell my car in Turkey and want to use it in Bulgaria for 5 years.

I can not change my plate as Bulgarian and don't want to pay any tax.

Which is the best way of it?