11 September 20264 min read
A Finnish Oy pays 20% corporate tax and then up to 34% on dividends, landing near 40% on distributed profit. A Bulgarian EOOD lands at 14.5%. Full 2026 numbers, exit tax and substance rules.
Finland runs a corporate rate that looks competitive on paper and a dividend system that quietly undoes most of it. This guide puts the 2026 numbers next to a Bulgarian EOOD and covers what actually has to change before the lower rate holds.
| Item | Finland Oy | Bulgaria EOOD |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate income tax | 20% | 10% |
| Tax on dividends to an individual | Partly capital income at 30% / 34%, partly earned income | 5% withholding |
| Typical combined on distributed profit | 26% to 40% depending on net assets | 14.5% |
| Minimum share capital | EUR 0 (a funded balance sheet is still expected) | BGN 2, about EUR 1 |
| Standard VAT | 25.5% | 20% |
| Formation time | 1 to 3 weeks | About 5 business days |
On EUR 150,000 of profit distributed in full, a Finnish owner-manager of a company with modest net assets typically keeps around EUR 95,000 to EUR 100,000. Through a Bulgarian EOOD the same profit leaves about EUR 128,000. The gap is roughly EUR 30,000 a year.
Finland does not tax dividends from a private company at a single rate. Up to 8% of the company's mathematical net asset value can be paid out with 75% of the first EUR 150,000 exempt, the rest taxed as capital income. Anything above that band is taxed largely as earned income on the progressive scale, which reaches well past 50% including municipal tax.
The practical effect is that the Finnish system rewards companies holding large net assets. A service business with a light balance sheet, which describes most consultancies and software firms, sits at the unfavourable end and pays close to earned-income rates on anything it distributes.
Bulgaria has none of this machinery: 10% on profit, 5% on the dividend, 14.5% in total whatever the balance sheet looks like. The dividend tax guide walks through how a distribution is decided and documented.
A Finnish owner-manager pays YEL entrepreneur pension contributions on a declared income figure, plus progressive tax on salary. Dividends are usually cheaper but the net-asset cap limits how much can be taken at the low rate.
In Bulgaria, a manager on a management contract pays social contributions on a capped base, so a moderate salary costs little and creates a clean substance record, then dividends carry 5%. The payroll and employer cost guide has the 2026 bases and worked examples.
Finland has been tightening rules on departing individuals, and the general anti-avoidance provision is applied actively where a move looks arranged rather than real. Assets and shareholdings held at departure can be caught, and the three-year rule keeps former residents taxable as residents unless they show substantial ties have been cut.
The sequence matters. What happens to shares you already own is decided by how and when you leave, not by where you incorporate next. The Wegzugsteuer guide written for German founders explains the same mechanics in more detail.
A Bulgarian company run day to day from Helsinki is a Finnish tax resident company in Finnish eyes, and the Bulgarian rate saves nothing. The Finland-Bulgaria treaty tie-breaker points to the place of effective management.
Real substance means:
For a single-founder business this normally works only if the founder relocates.
B2B services to Finnish VAT-registered clients are reverse charged once you hold a VIES-validated Bulgarian VAT number. Consumer sales into Finland run through OSS above the EUR 10,000 pan-EU threshold, and Finland's 25.5% rate then applies to those sales. The VAT registration guide sets out the triggers and filing cycle.
See the documents checklist and the annual filing calendar.
Yes. Many founders route new international work through the Bulgarian entity. Transfer pricing applies between related companies, so anything flowing between them must be priced at arm's length and documented.
Finland's CFC rules generally do not bite where the foreign company carries out genuine economic activity in an EEA state with real premises, staff and equipment. Bulgaria is in the EU, so substance is the deciding factor, not the rate.
YEL follows Finnish entrepreneurial activity. Once you are genuinely insured in Bulgaria under EU coordination rules and hold an A1 certificate for your situation, contributions move with you. Confirm the position with your Finnish pension provider before stopping payments.
For B2B services, no, reverse charge applies. For B2C digital sales to Finnish consumers, yes, you charge Finnish VAT and report it through OSS.
Run your numbers in the tax calculator, read the EOOD explainer, then book a free consultation.
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You already qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Adding a Bulgarian EOOD on top can push your effective tax rate close to zero on the first ~$130k and to ~15% on everything above - if you set the salary right.
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