Bulgaria Digital Nomad Visa

Local Tax Picture

Bulgaria’s tax regime for this visa sits inside a resident tax system, not a territorial or remittance-based one. The scraped legal source describes a flat 10% tax rate and says tax residency starts after more than 183 days in a calendar year. In practice, that means foreign-source remote salary, foreign contractor income, pension distributions, ETF dividends from a foreign brokerage, and rental income from property abroad can all become part of the Bulgarian tax picture once you are a tax resident. The visa facts do not disclose any special nomad tax regime, and they do not specify a deadline for tax-status registration.

Foreign capital gains are not sheltered by a territorial carve-out here. The structured facts identify the regime type as resident, so a FIRE investor selling index funds or ETFs from a foreign brokerage should assume Bulgarian resident taxation applies unless a narrower exemption is confirmed by a local tax adviser. Health insurance is mandatory for the visa, but a local bank account is not, which removes one administrative step without changing the tax outcome.

Tax treaty status with the US is unknown in the supplied facts, so there is no basis here to claim treaty relief, Social Security coordination, or a totalization agreement.

For US Citizens and Green Card Holders

• FEIE (Form 2555) covers earned income only: remote salary, consulting, and self-employment income. The 2024 limit is $126,500. It does not cover dividends, capital gains, pension distributions, or Social Security.
• The Physical Presence Test is the cleaner fit for this visa structure because the visa facts do not specify a residence-day minimum, but the visa itself runs on a 12-month permit and Bulgarian tax residency begins after 183 days. A US nomad spending 330 days outside the United States in a 12-month period can still use FEIE for earned income, subject to the test’s calendar structure.
• FTC (Form 1116) only helps when Bulgarian tax on a given income stream exceeds the US tax on that same stream. With a 10% flat local rate, the FTC may reduce double taxation on taxed income, but it does not create a shelter where Bulgaria already taxes the item and the US also taxes it.
• FBAR (FinCEN 114) applies when foreign financial account balances exceed $10,000 at any point in the year. That matters if you open non-US accounts while living in Bulgaria, even though a local bank account is not required for the visa.

A US CPA who handles FEIE, FTC, and FBAR, plus a Bulgarian tax adviser for residency registration and local filing, is the practical two-person setup here. The $1,500–$3,000 spent in year one on professional guidance usually costs less than fixing a missed FBAR or misclassifying foreign investment income later.