Updated 22.07.2024. 

Social security contributions in Bulgaria are compulsory financial contributions you pay to the state when you work. They are paid either by your employer or by you, depending on the type of work you do. 

Contributions are paid to as a form of insurance so that you can be compensated in certain situations, known as "risks", that prevent you from working, such as: 

  • general disease;
  • maternity;
  • disability due to general illness;
  • old age and death;
  • occupational accident and disease;
  • unemployment.

Detailed information on each risk is available below. 

The social security contributions are paid to the relevant funds that exist in Bulgaria: 

  • General Sickness and Maternity Fund. 
  • Pension Fund for invalidity due to general illness, old age and death. 
  • Occupational Accident and Sickness Fund. 
  • Unemployment fund
  • Teachers' Pension Fund - a special fund only for teachers. 

Who is socially insured in Bulgaria?

What is common to all those who are subject to social security in Bulgaria is that they work. If you have refugee, humanitarian status or temporary protection, or if you are an asylum seeker, you have the right to work in Bulgaria. Certain categories of foreigners can also work in Bulgaria. For more information on the right to work, see these articles:

Working in Bulgaria

Workers' rights in Bulgaria

Access to the labour market for foreigners in Bulgaria and the relevant residence permits

Seasonal jobs for foreigners in Bulgaria

How to employ refugees

What risks you will be covered for, depends on the type of your job. 

Mandatorily insured for ALL RISKS mentioned above are people who:

  • work on an employment contract;
  • are civil servants;
  • are staff of the judiciary system;
  • are liquidators, procurators, etc.

Beyond these individuals, there are other groups that are compulsorily insured for only some of the risks. For example: 

  • People who work are employed on short-term, agricultural contracts for up to 90 days are insured only for disability due to general illness, old age, death and occupational accident and disease.
  • Persons engaged in wild mushroom and fruit picking activities are fully insured at their own expense for disability due to general illness, old age and death if their income is equal to half of the minimum salary for the country - 466 BGN in 2024).
  • Persons exercising a free profession (lawyer, freelancer, etc.) are compulsorily insured only for invalidity due to general illness, old age and death. They can also choose to be additionally insured for general sickness and maternity - they should make a note of this when filing their declaration to the National Revenue Agency.
  • Traders (sole traders, owners and partners in companies) are insured only for invalidity due to general illness, old age and death. These persons can also choose to be additionally insured for general sickness and maternity insurance.
  • If you work on a civil contract, you are also only compulsorily insured for invalidity due to general illness, old age and death. 

In this case, if you do not work on any other basis (for example, under an employment contract) your income must be sum up to at least the minimum salary  in Bulgaria (933 BGN in 2024) after deducting from your income the percentage of the legally recognized costs of the activity, the percentage of which varies depending on the type of work performed. If you work on another basis (for example, you work under both an employment contract and a civil contract), it does not matter what salary you receive under the civil contract - you will be insured regardless of the amount.

Who pays the social security contributions? 

The legal obligation to pay the social security contributions is under the responsibility of:

  • your employer, if you work under an employment contract;
  • the state, if you are a public servant;
  • you, if you are a trader or freelancer or wild mushroom and fruit picker. In this case, you are self-employed.

How to start a business in Bulgaria

How are social security contributions paid?

Contributions are monthly payments that are due by the 25th of the month following the month in which the work was performed. 

When your employer pays your social security contributions, a percentage is deducted from your wage and another part is paid by your employer. 

Self-employed persons pay the contributions entirely on their own account on the income they receive after deducting from their total income for the month the percentage of their legally recognized activity costs. For example:

  1. persons registered as farmers have 60% of their costs recognised by law; 
  2. 40 % is the cost recognised for persons who receive: royalties, including income from the sale of inventions, works of science, culture and art, as well as royalties from performances by performing artists; income from the exercise of a trade not subject to patent tax; lawyers;
  3. 25% for income from other types of freelance occupations outside the one referred to in point 1, 2, or under non-employment relationships, e.g. civil contracts.

If you are employed under an employment contract, your social security contributions are based on your gross salary. The total amount is about 32.70-33.40% of your gross salary, 18.92-19.62% of which is paid by your employer and 13.78% is deducted from your salary.

All contributions are paid to the National Revenue Agency (NRA). This can be done: 

Grounds for social security payments

General disease

A general illness is an illness that temporarily prevents you from working (it can be any illness - mild or serious, the important thing is that it creates an inability to work). 

In this case, you can take a sick leave. Read more here: 

How do I get sick leave in Bulgaria?

In addition to the standard illness, Bulgarian law accepts as a form of general illness also:

  • abortion;
  • if a member of your family is ill and you have to look after them;
  • if you need to go for a medical check-up or tests. 

In all cases, you are paid a cash compensation for the days you do not work. It is 80% of your gross salary. 

It is important to prove that you are sick with a sick note from a doctor.

Disability due to general illness

From the general illness described above, it is also possible for disability to occur, which, unlike the disease, is of a long-term/life-long nature.

In this case, you may receive a disability pension if your disability is proven to be 50% or more. To do this, you must go through a procedure to establish your disability. You can find out how this is done here: 

Procedure for establishing disability

Additionally, you can read about disability pensions here: 

Disability pensions

Maternity 

If you become pregnant, you are entitled to 410 days of maternity leave, 45 of which can be taken before your due date. There are also different types of parental leave. During the period you are not at work, you will be paid an allowance. You can read more here: 

Pregnant women

Requesting time off from work. Types of leave

Old Age

Old age is associated with reaching a certain age and accumulating years of work experience, after which you are considered to be able to retire. For example, in Bulgaria, women can retire when they become 62 years and 2 months and men at 64 years and 7 months and have accumulated 36 years and 6 months of work experience for women and 39 years and 8 months for men. Old age is linked to the receipt of pensions such as:

  • Retirement pension;
  • Occupational pension - This pension is for early retirement. For example, police officers, teachers, etc. are entitled to retire early;
  • Social old-age pension. You can read more here:

Social pensions in Bulgaria

  • Personal pensions - If you are aged 65 and 10 months and have brought up 5 or more children to the age of 18, or if you are aged 65 and 10 months and have cared for a person with a long-term disability for more than 10 years. The personal pension is 90% of the old-age social pension, which from 01.07.2024 is 276,36 BGN.

Death

What is special about this risk is that when an insured person dies, his/her family (spouse/children/parents) benefit in the form of:

  • A one-off death grant of 540 BGN for 2024.
  • inheritance pension. From 01.07.2024 the minimum amount of the inheritance pension is 435.43 BGN per month. 

Work accident

Work accident compensation is payable if you are injured while at work (e.g. break your leg/hand, get burnt, have an allergic reaction, etc.). The important thing here is that the accident is related to the work you are doing and that is why you cannot work.

The accident may have occurred while you were doing your job, but it may also have happened while you were doing something else related to it, for example, you are staying in a hotel where you were sent for work and you get burned in a hotel fire. 

It is also considered an accident at work if you are injured while you:

  • travel to and from your place of work;
  • commute to where you eat lunch when you're at work;
  • travel to the place where you receive your salary, when it is paid by hand.

What should I do if I have an accident at work? 

  1. First of all, your employer has the obligation to immediately notify the relevant territorial unit of the National Social Security Institute (NSI) that an accident at work has occurred. This can be done verbally via telephone or by sending them a written message by e-mail. 
  2. The NSI and the Labour Inspectorate then investigated the accident. At the end of this investigation, a report of the facts and evidence is drawn up.
  3. Where it is apparent from the evidence that there has been an accident at work, the accident must be declared by the employer. The following documents must be submitted to the territorial branch of the NSI in accordance to your place of work.  
    • an accident at work declaration completed in quadruplicate;
    • the investigation report;
    • written explanations of the victim; 
    • written testimonies from people who witnessed  the accident;
    • copies of documents related to the victim's employment - employment contract, order of appointment, annexes, job description, attendance sheet, etc.;
    • a copy of any medical documents drawn up after the work accident;
    • other documents as appropriate - e.g. a business trip order if the accident occurred while the worker was on a business trip.
  4. An official from the NSI then decides whether or not there was a work accident.

In the event of an accident at work:

  • you are entitled to compensation for not being able to work until you recover or until your disability is established - the amount is 90% of your gross salary;
  • a personal invalidity pension if the required degree of invalidity is established;
  • cash aid for prevention and rehabilitation;
  • Inheritance disability pension - if the injured person died because of the work accident, the disability pension is paid to the injured person's children, spouse and parents; 
  • one-off death grant - BGN 540 for 2024.

Occupational disease

Occupational disease refers to cases where you have become ill because of the work you do (for example, if you work with chemicals or in very dusty conditions). This illness must affect your ability to work. 

The procedure for establishing an occupational disease is as follows:

  1. If you suspect that you have developed an occupational disease, you should contact a doctor, to whom you should describe your work experience, under what conditions you work, what risk elements are present in your work. The doctor must establish the existence of the disease with a sick note or with an expert decision if you are before the Territorial Expert Medical Committee (TELC);
  2. This doctor must, within 24 hours of the diagnosis of the disease, send a notice to the territorial branch of the NSI and to your employer. 
  3. The head of the territorial division of the NSI then issues an order for a committee to investigate the disease and determine whether there are suspicions of occupational disease and finally draws up an investigation report.
  4. Finally, the TELC must decide whether the disease is truly occupational or not. A clinical examination will be carried out and the documents collected in your file will be examined, which are:
    • Occupational disease notice
    • The study protocol
    • Sick leaves issued

If it is established that you have occupational disease, you are entitled to: 

  • compensation for not being able to work until you are reinstated or disabled, equal to 90% of your gross salary;
  • a personal invalidity pension if the required degree of invalidity is established;
  • cash aid for prevention and rehabilitation;
  • Inheritance invalidity pension;
  • one-off death grant - BGN 540 for 2024.

Unemployment 

You can read in detail about the unemployment risk and the conditions under which unemployment benefit is paid here: 

Unemployment benefit