Businesses demand a 9% VAT for additional tourism services

raya.atanasova@klassa.bg


All additional tourism services should be levied a lower VAT of 9% instead of 20%, demanded representatives of the tourism branch, announced for Klassa daily, Tsvetan Tonchev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Tourist Chamber. As of early April, a uniform rate of 9% was imposed on organised and individual tourists. Prior to that, individual visitors paid 20% VAT, while organised ones - 7% VAT. The branch organisation demanded full alignment of the tax rate for all accompanying services.

Currently, restaurants and cultural sites, as well as ski package offers will be levied 20% VAT again. This disadvantageous fact will affect negatively mostly Bulgarians who pay these separately from the tourism package. Nedyalka Sandalska, the Chair of the Governing Board of the Borovets resort concessionaire Borosport explained that it was not reasonable for additional tourism services, such as the offering of lift cards, for example, to be taxed at a higher rate than the general one. This became effective as early as the discussion held by the tourism branch on the new tax amendments.

Some 50 hoteliers in the Samokov district are planning to waive their hotel categorisation because of the imposition of the new local tax, reckoned Tonchev. The point is that the actual occupancy rate of accommodation facilities is not reported but the tax must be paid for 30% of the annual hotel occupancy. Another problem is that each municipality decides on its own what kind of tax should be imposed on businesses, resulting in paradoxical differences. In contrast to the Black seaside town of Nessebar where all categories of hotels are levied BGN 0.20, in the town of Stara Zagora, accommodation facilities are taxed BGN 1.20 - 2. This is a serious problem especially for seasonal hotels and guesthouses.
Hotels in Sofia are also discontented with the payment of the high tax in the range of BGN 0.60 for one-star establishments and up to BGN 3 for five-star hotels.

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