Bulgaria client case studies in 2024
Promoting Bitcoin trade in Eastern Europe
Background
- Our Russian Client is interested to become the leading Bitcoin solutions provider in Bulgaria and later Eastern Europe;
- Having broad experience and background in the young but booming Bitcoin sector, our Client will operate an online platform for easy, transparent and efficient Bitcoin trade, which is gaining popularity in Europe and globally;
- Bulgaria was chosen as the country imposes friendly regulations towards Bitcoin in comparison to many other countries which have negative perception for cryptocurrencies. In Bulgaria, Bitcoin is considered financial asset and does not require VAT taxation on Bitcoin transactions;
- Our Client prefers to retain full 100% control of the company and remain as sole director, without local presence in Bulgaria. He also does not wish to travel personally to Bulgaria to secure corporate bank account opening, but facilitate this process via dedicated Power of Attorney, legalized in the Bulgarian Embassy in Russia.
Engagement planning
- Over a conference call, initially over the phone and then over Skype, Petar in detail described the steps required to register a new business in Bulgaria. Furthermore, Petar described additional professional fees that our Client may need during the engagement, such as AML policy creation and staffing solutions;
- During the call, Mr. Aidan Healy, the managing director of Healy Consultants, further described in detail that while Bulgaria is part of the European Union, the country still struggles with high corruption and unemployment rates, and suffers from dysfunctional judicial system;
- Our Client agreed to advance and promptly signed and stamped Healy Consultants’ client engagement letter. Over the coming weeks, the Client supplied most of the required due diligence in a scanned form over dropbox;
- Our Client decided to transfer initial retainer fee to Healy Consultant’s European corporate bank accounts and provided Petar with a scanned transfer slip;
- Being formally engaged by our Russian Clients, within a week from fee settlement, Petar began to plan and prepare a detailed project plan for our Client;
- To negate the risk of errors and engagement delays, our quality deliverables and updates to our Client were reviewed by senior management team from our head office. This way, Healy Consultants ensures our Client receive timely up-to-date feedback for the work concluded on the ground.
Company incorporation
- Immediately after retainer fee settlement, Petar supplied our Russian Client with a detailed project plan, inclusive of date-by-date steps required to complete our Client’s Bulgaria engagement in a timely matter;
- Thereafter, Petar began to prepare initial Bulgaria company application forms and power of attorney, required to be signed and legalized by our Client in Russia and couriered back to Bulgaria;
- Following receipt of the legalized set of due diligence, Petar submits quality company setup application to the Trade Registry and obtains company numbers within a business week.
Other services
- Our Client needs to know if he will need to register for VAT payments. Petar and his accounting team conduct research and confirm VAT payments and registration for our Client’s business is not mandatory;
- Furthermore, as part of the engagement, Petar prepared a detailed AML/KYC policy for our Client’s review and approval.
Corporate banking
- Now that our Client’s company is successfully registered, Petar blasted our portfolio of banking contacts and managed to obtain confirmation of interest in writing. Our Client is required to legalize another set of power of attorney in Russia to allow our local lawyers to represent him in front of banks and other financial institutions alike;
- Following legalization of the corporate bank account opening set and POA, Petar and our lawyers on the ground submit quality corporate bank account opening application to several banks in Bulgaria;
- Within 3 business weeks, our Client obtained approval from the bank’s compliance department, and managed to receive corporate bank account numbers;
- Online banking in English is activated within two business weeks and security (token) devises were emailed to our Client shortly thereafter.
US Sole Proprietor Establishes a Bulgaria IT Solutions Company
Background
- Our client, a US based seasoned entrepreneur with a background providing IT solutions and postal movers services wished to establish a Bulgarian entity to target clients within the EU;
- Having found Healy Consultants Group through the internet, our Client contacted our Dubai office for initial inquiry and to get information on how well to facilitate the incorporation of their Europe company;
- After the initial phone call and discussion, our Client settled the first fee instalment with Healy Consultants to initiate the engagement;
Engagement planning
- Healy Consultants Group advised our Client to incorporate a Bulgarian private limited company with a local multi-currency corporate bank account;
- Our Client furnished Healy Consultants Group with the scan copies of all due diligence documents to formally commence the Bulgaria engagement;
- Healy Consultants Group thereafter prepared and emailed our Client a detailed project plan and e draft business plan for the proposed entity;
Company registration
- Healy Consultants Group prepared a draft power of attorney (POA) in both English and Bulgarian and sent the same for our Client’s signature and courier return;
- Upon receipt of the original signed POAs, Healy Consultants Group lodged a request with the Commercial Register (BRRA) to reserve our Client’s preferred company name and obtained an approval within 1 day;
- Healy Consultants Group then secured and prepared the company registration documents and emailed the same to our Client for signature and scan-email return;
- Upon receipt of the signed scans, Healy Consultants Group visited the Ministry of Justice, Registry Agency on behalf of our Client and submitted the quality company registration application;
- Within 3 days of application submission, Healy Consultants Group obtained the certificate of incorporation and emailed the same to our Client.
Corporate bank account opening
- Healy Consultants Group approached top banks in Bulgaria to submit a corporate account opening pre-application including multiple major East European banks to secure the interest for our Client’s business;
- Because our Client was traveling in Europe and to avoid any delays, our Client visited one of the banks in Sofia with our local representative and signed the bank forms in person;
- Within 1 week the bank approved the multicurrency corporate bank account and directly emailed the corporate bank account numbers to our Client;
- Within the subsequent 2 weeks the bank couriered to our Client’s US address the internet banking tokens and activated the online banking platform for our Client to be able to make wire transfers;
Crypto e-wallet account opening
- Upon corporate account opening, our Client reverted requesting Healy Consultants Group assistance to secure a cryptocurrency e-wallet to be able to make investments in crypto;
- Our Client settled Healy Consultants Group fee for this additional service and provided us additional due diligence documents to advance this part of the engagement;
- Within 2 weeks Healy Consultants Group contacted multiple reputable cryptocurrency exchanges and provided our Client with a comparison of exchanges keen to welcome an application form our Client;
- Upon our Client’s choice of their preferred exchange, Healy Consultants Group prepared the detailed procedure of opening an e-wallet account with the crypto-exchange;
- Within 1 week thereafter, our Client’s preferred crypto-exchange approved and provided our Client with a cryptocurrency e-wallet to be able to buy and sell various cryptocurrencies;
Post-Company Incorporation
- Unfortunately, within 4 months the Central Bank of Bulgaria directed all banks in Bulgaria to closedown accounts associated with the trade or investment in cryptocurrencies. Our Client’s Bulgaria account was thus summarily closed;
- Healy Consultants Group advised our Client to change the business activity of the Bulgarian company to exclude investment in cryptocurrency;
- Healy Consultants Group completed the change of business activity with the Bulgarian Companies Registry and provided our Client with a new set of company documents;
- Upon completion of the above and without charge, Healy Consultants Group proceeded to secure a new corporate bank account for our Client with a Latvian bank within 4 weeks;
- The bank emailed our client the corporate bank account numbers and couriered the internet banking token to our Client US address;
Engagement completion
- To comply with the Bulgarian Government legal requirements, Healy Consultants Group prepared and emailed our Client a tax invoice template for their convenience;
- Healy Consultants Group collated all the corporate documents including original translated and apostilled company extract, M&AA and director and shareholder certificates and couriered the same to our Client’s address in USA.
