Bulgaria's Ombudsman: Law on VAT Exemption for Donated Foods Not Working

Last year's legislation which allowed for donated foods nearing expiry date to be exempted from any value-added tax (VAT) does not work as the government has not done its job, Bulgaria's National Ombudsman Maya Manolova has said.

In October, Parlaiment passed a text providing for foods thirty days or less out of their expiry date to be donated to non-profit organizations without being levied with a VAT. The measure will only be applied if the total value of donations does not exceed 0.5% of the business' respective annual turnover.

However, authorities are not ready for secondary legislation which would practically led to the exemption, the Bulgarian National Radio quotes Manolova as saying.

"This will be one of our aims in the second edition of the campaign – by the end of this month to get three ministries to announce the appropriate regulation," Manolov has said at the beginning for the Easter for Everyone campaign this year.

"In this way, those who are ready for charity – manufacturers and retailers of food will do what is necessary and there will be more donations of food for the Easter Holiday".

The campaign is planned to cover the needs of retirees, who will receive food vouchers which they can use in 5 000 food stores and it won’t be necessary to buy only "flour, rice, macaroni", added the Ombudsman.

To this end, in her words, a campaign with text messages to the number 1255 will begin. There is already an open donation bank account, so everybody can transfer minimal amounts to help the others.

Partners of the campaign are the National Social Security Institute and Bulgarian Posts. All the data which retirees can receive food vouchers, will be provided by the National Social Security Institute.

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