Title: No Bulgarian Finance Ministers Used Tax Waiver Powers in a Decade
Bulgarian finance ministers have not used their powers to defer or reschedule taxes, insurance, or other public liabilities for businesses over the past decade, according to information obtained by Mediapool through the Access to Public Information Act (APIA). The ministry’s current incumbent, Minister Ludmila Petkova, provided the information.
From 2014 to the present, the finance ministers who have held the position are Petar Chobanov, Rumen Porozhanov, Vladislav Goranov, Kiril Ananiev, Valeri Belchev, Rositsa Velkova, Asen Vassilev, and the current minister, Ludmila Petkova.
The query was sparked by claims from the NGO "BOEC" that former finance minister Vladislav Goranov had issued an "indulgence" to the "Union Ivkoni" company. In 2018 or 2019, Goranov allegedly deferred around 5 million BGN in the company’s debts to the National Revenue Agency (NRA) to secure a large loan from the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB).
According to the Tax and Social Security Procedural Code (TSSPC), only the finance minister can defer or reschedule public liabilities exceeding 300,000 BGN. For amounts between 100,000 and 300,000 BGN, the NRA’s executive director makes the decision, and for amounts up to 100,000 BGN, the territorial director of the tax agency is responsible. Such deferrals or reschedulings are only permitted under certain conditions outlined in the TSSPC.
However, this information has never been made public, as it falls under tax secrecy, according to the NRA’s response to Mediapool.
Vladislav Goranov dismissed the allegations, stating, "I have never signed any deferral or rescheduling of public liabilities in the seven years I was in office." The Finance Ministry also confirmed that no such decisions had been made by any finance minister since 2014.
In an unrelated development, in 2019, one of the current owners of "Union Ivkoni" – the company "Transpek" – received two loans totaling over 41 million EUR from the state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank. The larger loan of over 29 million EUR was used to purchase the two largest bus companies on the market – "Union Ivkoni" and "Group Plus," resulting in a market monopoly for the combined company. The second loan of 12.6 million EUR was used to settle debts to various entities, including the Bulgarian-American Credit Bank, municipal banks, the NRA, and to purchase buses.
Recently, it was revealed that a new company affiliated with "Ivkoni" – "Ivkoni Express" – is interested in acquiring private rail transport services following the expiry of the state-owned "BDZ Passenger Transport" monopoly.
Worth a look