World Bank Refused to Pay VAT in Bulgaria - Report

Bulgaria's caretaker Finance Minister, Kalin Hristov, is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank. Photo by BGNES

The World Bank has refused to pay Value Added Tax in Bulgaria, according to shorthand notes from the last meeting of the caretaker government.

Standard daily writes Friday that representatives of the World Bank, providing consulting to Bulgaria for better absorption of EU funds, have told at a meeting caretaker Finance Minister, Kalin Hristov, they did not want to pay VAT on the wages received for the service.

Hristov says Bulgaria is opposing the request to eliminate VAT for World Bank services on grounds it would be unfair treatment of private companies providing such services and because Bulgarian laws do not include cases of VAT exemptions.

The caretaker government has decided to still use World Bank consulting, but Prime Minister, Marin Raykov, has told the members of the Cabinet to seek ways to resolve the issue with the 20% VAT.