Jurisdiction comparison · 2026
Poland's small-taxpayer 9% rate is attractive until you outgrow it, at which point 19% corporate plus 19% dividend applies. Bulgaria keeps 10% and 5% at any size.
| Bulgaria 🇧🇬 | Poland 🇵🇱 | |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax | 10% flat | 19% standard, 9% for small taxpayers |
| Dividend tax | 5% | 19% |
| VAT rate | 20% (0% intra-EU B2B) | 23% |
| Min. share capital | BGN 2 (≈ €1) | PLN 5,000 (≈ €1,160) for a sp. z o.o. |
| Setup time | 3-7 business days | 1-3 weeks |
| EU membership | Yes (since 2007) | Yes (2004) |
| Social contributions | ~32% (capped at BGN 4,130/mo) | ZUS contributions plus a health levy tied to income |
Poland is a genuine low-cost alternative rather than a high-tax jurisdiction, so the comparison turns on scale and extraction. The 9% CIT band is capped by revenue and only helps smaller companies, and once a founder crosses it the combined 19% plus 19% burden is roughly double Bulgaria's. The Polish health contribution reform also removed much of the old flat-rate certainty for owner-managers. Where Poland still wins is operational: a larger domestic market, a deep engineering labour pool, and the IP Box regime for companies with qualifying intellectual property. Bulgaria wins when the business is location-independent and the priority is a low, predictable rate on distributed profit.
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