Bulgaria NRA Head: Luxury Car Owners Drained V.A.T

Finance | October 27, 2009, Tuesday

Of the 105 Bentley owners in Bulgaria, 46 of them have been examined by the NRA and 31 had been found to own the cars through legal means. Photo by egmcartech.com

Bulgaria’s National Revenue Agency head, Krasimir Stefanov, has reported on the ongoing inspections carried out on owners of luxury cars in Bulgaria.

Stefanov stated that one company had 209 cars, of which some were luxury Bentleys; they were reportedly all bought using loans from individuals and other legal entities. Another owner of luxury cars said that he had received EUR 600 000 from friends to buy them.

Stefanov concluded that “Bulgarians must have very good friends” with loans from them amounting to over EUR 2 B. He added that of the 105 Bentley owners in Bulgaria, 46 of them have been examined and 31 had been found to own the cars through legal means. The others are now under the final stages of a full NRA investigation.

Many of the luxury car owners investigated had registered their vehicles as vans or trucks, so as to drain V.A.T from the NRA, Stefanov confirmed. He said that the Interior Ministry is now keeping a close eye on the luxury cars register.

Meanwhile Stefanov confirmed that at a meeting with Customs Agency head, Gen. Vanyo Tanov, on Monday it became clear that the new information link between their two agencies has already had some effects – especially on fuel smuggling. He also added that the amount of tax revenues for the treasury will be similar to last year at BGN 15,5 B, with around BGN 12,5 B being successfully collected for the budget.