Collateral (security) in the course of the fiscal control

The cases where a public enforcement agent and/or a revenue official proceeds with preliminary collateral (security) during fiscal control (in its own right) are regulated exhaustively in Art. 121a, Para. 1, Item 1 - 4 and Para. 2 of the Tax and Social Security Procedure Code (TSSPC):

damaged seal of the control devices;
violation of the prohibition under Art. Para. 3, Item 4 of TSSPC;
discrepancy between the type and/or quantity indicated in the documents and those established during the examination;
failure of the driver of the transport vehicle or of the recipient/buyer of the goods to appear at the location of goods delivery/unloading;

where a revenue official establishes that that in case of a subsequent disposal of the goods the collection of the taxes due would be impossible or significantly impeded.

Seizure of goods

The revenue official shall undertake actions for securing evidence and shall seize the goods and the relevant documents pursuant to the provisions of Art. 121a, Para. 3 of TSSPC, for a period of up to 72 hours without court authorization. In this case the disposal prohibition under Art. 13, Para. 3, Item 4 shall remain in effect and the goods shall be released after collateral (security) is provided.

The seized goods shall be released after the provision of collateral (security) in the amount of 30 % of goods market value (provided via bank transfer or unconditional and irrevocable bank guarantee valid for not less than 6 months) and after payment of the costs for their seizure and storage.

Deadline for payment of the collateral (security) – the deadline set for payment of the collateral (security), of 24/72 hours, begins from the time of completion of the examination.

Collateral (security) amount – it shall be specified in the prepared protocol which has been handed to the recipient/buyer.

Payment/provision of the collateral (security)

The sum of the collateral (security) amounting to 30 % of the market value of the goods shall be paid to the bank account of the respective Territorial Directorate (TD) of NRA.

The bank guarantee or the payment order for the transferred amount shall be presented within 24/72 hours to the respective head of Operational Activities sector at the location of performance of the fiscal control, and sent to the following email address: [email protected].

Bank guarantee shall be issued by:

a person who has received a bank license from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB);
a bank with a seat in a third country which has received a license from BNB to operate in Bulgaria via a branch;
a bank which has been authorized to carry on banking business by the competent authorities of a Member State, and which provides, directly or via a branch, services on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Consequences of failure to provide collateral (security)

Where collateral (security) has not been provided within 72 hours from the seizure, and in case of perishable goods – within 24 hours, the goods shall be deemed to the State. These circumstances shall be described in a protocol on the type and the quantity of the goods abandoned to the State, and in the Fiscal Control register.

Appealing against the actions of the revenue officials carrying out fiscal control

The actions of the revenue officials, who have performed fiscal control of the movement of goods of high fiscal risk, can be appealed within 14 days from their execution before the head of the respective territorial directorate of the National Revenue Agency (corresponding to the location of the site/the place where these actions were taken) based on Art. 127g in relation to Art. 41 of the TSSPC. The submission of an appeal does not stop the undertaken actions.

Attention! Preliminary collateral (security) under fiscal control may be exercised by:

public enforcement agents (on the grounds of Art. 121a, Para. 1 of TSSPC), by means of imposing preliminary collateral (security) measures amounting to at least 30 % of the market value of the goods, at the request of a revenue official, and
revenue officials (on the grounds of Art. 121a, Para. 3 of TSSPC), by means of undertaking actions for securing evidence as per Art. 40 of TSSPC and determining collateral (security) amounting to 30 % of the market value of the goods.