Salary and tax in Bulgaria

Where the money goes

Of €26,400 gross, income tax (Данък върху доходите) takes €2,285 and employee contributions (ДОО, ДЗПО, and НЗОК) take €3,553. That leaves €20,563 a year, or €1,714 a month on average.

The employer pays another €4,878 in charges on top, 18.5% of the salary. The whole job costs €31,278 a year.

How the income tax works

The income tax (Данък върху доходите) is a flat 10% of taxable income.

The bands apply to taxable income: what is left after allowances and deductible contributions. That is why the rates bite later than the gross salary suggests.

Employee contributions are capped: above a salary of about €25,300 a year, the capped part stops rising.

How the rates rise with the salary

Some income tax is due from the first unit of salary.

At €26,400, 22.1% of pay goes to income tax and employee contributions. Of the next 100 earned, 85 reach the employee, a marginal rate of 15.2%.

At twice that salary, €52,800, the average rate is 16.2% and the marginal rate 10%.

The marginal rate is highest at a salary of about €5,280: 22.4%. At about €25,300, employee contributions reach a ceiling, and their share of each raise falls from 13.8% to 0%.

Average and marginal rates, with worked examples:
Pay rise: How much more take-home pay? (Bulgaria)

Among 50 countries

At the same €26,400 a year, converted into each local currency, an employee in Bulgaria takes home 77.9%, rank 32 of 50.

The same salary leaves the most in Taiwan (94.4%) and the least in Romania (58.5%).

Every country is calculated for the same single employee without children, with the salary converted at the exchange rates of October 2, 2026. A salary that is typical in one country is high in another, so progressive systems look heavier where wages are lower. The ranking says nothing about purchasing power or about what the contributions pay for, such as pensions and health cover. Where the newer rules are not final, a country is calculated with its latest enacted year: Belgium (2025), Norway (2025), and Romania (2025).

Beyond the payslip

The statutory rules in Bulgaria on notice, unemployment, sick pay, parental leave and unpaid wages.

• Notice and dismissal

  Кодекс на труда

  30 days

  Ordinary indefinite-contract notice

  Default notice, extendable by agreement up to three months; employer grounds using Article 328 follow Article 326(2) notice periods.

• Unemployment benefit

  Парично обезщетение за безработица

  12 months / 18 months

  Insurance qualification

  At least twelve unemployment-insured months in the preceding eighteen months, plus registration and other conditions.

• Sick pay

  Парично обезщетение при временна неработоспособност

  2 working days

  Employer-paid start

  For incapacity beginning from 2024, employer pays the first two working days at 70% of the relevant daily gross remuneration, subject to qualification.

• Parental leave

  Обезщетение за бременност и раждане; отглеждане на дете

  410 days

  Pregnancy and childbirth period

  Separate pregnancy/childbirth benefit period; the later child-raising benefit is a different entitlement.

• Unpaid wages

  Фонд „Гарантирани вземания на работниците и служителите“

  6 months

  Covered arrears

  Last six accrued unpaid monthly wages and qualifying compensation within the preceding thirty-six calendar months, subject to monthly caps.

Method and sources

Official sources

• Министерство на финансите
• Euro reference exchange rates, October 2, 2026 (ECB)