Deadline for Annual Financial Statements and Corporate Income Tax Declarations in Bulgaria postponed to June 30

Extending the deadline for annual accounting closure, as well as the rebate for local taxes and fees, are part of the measures the government is considering to mitigate business pressure and the intensity of emergency work.

The measures will be finalized tomorrow, and Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov announced today at an emergency briefing at the Council of Ministers some of them, including providing liquidity support to affected companies and an incentive not to lay off workers.

“We will propose an extension of the annual accounting closure period and the presentation of the annual financial statements and declarations under the Corporate Income Tax Act by June 30,” he said.

“We will also propose an extension of the payment of local taxes and fees at a discount that expires at the end of the month,” Goranov said, explaining that many people now want to take advantage of the discount, and people should be avoided.

“With the Bulgarian Development Bank, we will propose measures to provide liquidity support for those businesses suffering from the liquidity crisis due to the measures imposed by the government,” the minister said. He pointed out that the state is ready to support the bank’s additional capitalization.

Vladislav Goranov said he had consulted with Social Minister Denitsa Sacheva a short-term measure, which could be launched as a one-month measure, for companies planning to lay off workers. He promised to finance 60 percent of the remuneration of business employees who have been proven to be affected by the state of emergency introduced by the spread of the contagion. This measure will apply when employers have decided that they should fire their employees because of a prohibition on business activity that has affected them.

“Those who are affected by limited consumption and supply chain disruptions and intend to lay off employees, not to do so … but to apply to the Employment Agency, and to provide the state through the social security system (through the State Social Insurance Fund) a month in the form of assistance for these businesses 60% of the remuneration of their employees, which would be paid if they released them, “he said.

These measures are likely to be announced tomorrow with more details, Goranov added.

The European Investment Bank, in the person of Lilyana Pavlova, is also expected to announce measures to benefit Bulgarian business, he added.

The Finance Minister said that redefined infrastructure projects and those for modernization of the armed forces would be reassessed in the coming days and weeks . Goranov noted that the government will return to these projects after the crisis is over.

According to the finance minister, the state has reservations, but with serious stagnation they can be exhausted for government spending. According to him, the deepening of the crisis will have to guarantee payments to the Ministry of Interior, MoD and healthcare. “Government reserves should not be spent in a month or two,” Goranov said and warned: “The state’s reserve is just over 10 billion at the moment. If the business does not adequately handle the fiscal, this money will not go for a long time,” Goranov said.

Asked by reporters, Goranov said that no bank or tax vacation , as suggested by economists , was considered.  He added that the banks themselves could decide how flexible they were with their clients.

The Finance Minister also said that BSP’s proposal for a moratorium on household bills is not on the agenda at this time .

“I see no reason, for example, a grocery store or a pharmacy, which is currently selling at times higher turnover, its employee not to pay electricity, because, you see, BSP colleagues are offering us nothing to pay for. It’s a utopia, “he said.

“Each commercial bank has a certain degree of flexibility and discretion. This should not go to the other extreme – by using a state of emergency, the entire economic turnover should be blocked by unscrupulous creditors. The cost to some is revenue to others, “the minister added.