What the law asks before your apartment takes its first guest

1Registering the property

An apartment let to tourists is registered with the municipality as a “guest apartment” — a category that is registered rather than given stars. Until it is registered it may not be offered online at all: not on Airbnb, not on Booking.com, not on a website of your own (Art. 113 of the Bulgarian Tourism Act).

• The application is made to Varna Municipality by whoever will actually be hosting the guests.
• The fee is €10.23 per bed, paid once.
• It takes about seven days.
• In Varna the registration does not expire.
• You receive a unique number, entered in the public register: regtourist.uslugi.io/search-public-register

An apartment in a building that houses an apartment tourist complex can be registered on its own, provided it is not part of the complex's categorised capacity (Art. 128(3) of the Tourism Act) — a common situation in the resorts.

2Who is the operator: you or a management company

The registration is in the name of whoever actually hosts the guests — the operator. The operator carries the obligations below for the guest register, ESTI and the tourist tax.

If you host yourself, the operator is you. If a management company does it, the company applies and attaches a document giving it the right to use the property — usually a use or management agreement signed by you. Without one, the company cannot be registered as the operator of your property, and the registration has to be in your name.

Agree in writing who receives the payouts from the platforms, too: that decides who declares the income (section 6).

3The number on every listing

Since 20 May 2026, Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 has applied: every short-term rental listing in the EU must carry the property's registration number. The platforms check the numbers and remove listings without a valid one.

In practice: the municipal number goes into the settings of every listing — Airbnb, Booking.com and anywhere else — written exactly as it appears in the register.

Varna Municipality reminded the public on 20 May 2026 that letting short-term without registration is an offence, and has already run joint inspections in Golden Sands with the consumer protection commission, the revenue agency, the health inspectorate and the police.

4Guest register and ESTI

Every guest is entered in the accommodation register on arrival, and the details are submitted within 24 hours to ESTI, Bulgaria's Unified Tourism Information System.

For guests from outside the EU, the details required by the Bulgarian Foreigners Act are submitted as well.

This is the operator's duty. Keeping no register, or not reporting to ESTI, is fined (Art. 213 of the Tourism Act).

5Tourist tax

Tourist tax is due for every night. It is owed by the operator — usually built into the guest's price — and paid to the municipality by the 15th of the following month. The annual declaration is due by 30 January.

The rate is set by the municipality according to the type and category of the property.

In Varna the rate for registered places to stay (class В), which guest apartments are, is €0.26 per guest per night — the same across the whole municipality, Golden Sands included (art. 56(6) of Varna's ordinance on local taxes): varna.obshtini.bg/doc/345772

6Tax on the income

Which regime applies depends on your situation. The two we meet most often:

• Patent tax — a fixed annual amount per room. It is available if the property is registered, has no more than 20 rooms, turns over less than €51,130 a year, and you are not VAT registered (registration under Art. 97a, in section 7, does not count against this). Roughly €13 to €128 per room per year, depending on the location and category.
• Taxation as a sole trader — 15% on the profit, where the conditions for patent tax are not met.

Taxation as ordinary rental income applies only in narrow cases and should not be assumed.

If you are not tax resident in Bulgaria, the regime may differ, and the double taxation treaty between Bulgaria and your country matters.

This is the part most worth taking to an accountant — before the first booking, not after the first tax return.

7VAT on the platforms' commission (Art. 97a)

Airbnb and Booking.com are foreign companies, and their commission is a service you receive in Bulgaria. An owner who is not VAT registered and pays that commission therefore has to register under Art. 97a of the Bulgarian VAT Act and charge themselves 20% VAT on it.

Registration under Art. 97a does not make you VAT registered for everything — it covers these services only. But missing it is the most common surprise for owners who let on their own.

8What the tax authority learns from the platforms (DAC7)

Every year the platforms report on their hosts, and the data reaches Bulgaria's National Revenue Agency: the income earned on each listing and the bank account it was paid into. If you live in another EU country, it receives the data too. If a platform does not have your tax details, it can hold your payouts until you provide them.

In practice: the revenue agency already knows what you received through Airbnb and Booking.com. Declare it so the figures match.

9The building and your neighbours

Under the law as it stands in September 2026, you do not need the consent of your neighbours or the owners' association to let short-term. Proposals to require it have been made, but none has been adopted.

The general meeting may, however, set higher contributions towards the common parts for units used commercially (Art. 51 of the Condominium Management Act). And the duty not to disturb other residents (Art. 6) is the clause neighbours actually rely on — which is why clear house rules for guests protect you as well.

10In short