• On 7 December 2011, the Bulgarian Parliament voted in support of the 2012 amendments to the Tax and Social Procedure Act, the VAT Act, the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses and the Personal Income Tax. As per the currently available information the proposed 2012 changes have been accepted with very few amendments. We will let you know about the final text of the amendments as soon as the information becomes publicly available.

It is expected that the amendments to all of the tax acts will be in force as of 1 January 2012.

  • On 8 December 2011 the new retirement reform was passed, according to which the retirement age shall be increased by four months each of the following three years starting from 1 January 2012. The ultimate goal is for the general retirement age to reach 63 for women and 65 for men.

However, today it was announced that the President would veto the reform. We will keep you updated on the development of this issue.

  • In the early morning of 9 December 2011, Parliament passed the state budget for 2012. It provides for a budget deficit of 1.35% of GDP, or more than BGN 1.5 billion, for the next year. The budget projects economic growth of 2.3% and annual inflation rate of 2.8%. The fiscal reserve will be BGN 4.5 billion and it is planned that the external debt can be increased by BGN 4.2 billion in 2012.

The forecasted tax revenues for 2012 are BGN 15 billion. The expected annual level of unemployment for the following year is 11%.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

The original publication date for this article was 09/12/2011.