In Bulgaria, employees on business trips are entitled to daily allowances (per diems) to cover meal and incidental expenses during the trip. Per diems are regulated by the Ordinance on business trips in the country and by the Ordinance on business trips and specializations abroad. Per diem expenses in Bulgaria are calculated using daily-based rates.
Conditions for tax-free per diems
To treat per diem expenses as non-taxable, employers must be able to provide a thorough justification of the travel expenses to the Bulgarian authorities. Per diems are tax-free for the employee, provided the following conditions are met:
The employer must issue an official travel order, signed by the employer, before the trip. For domestic trips, the travel order can be issued as an electronic document.
The employee must submit a report on the work performed, together with a comprehensive expense report for all costs incurred during the trip, within three days of returning from the trip.
Accommodation costs are reimbursed at their actual amount against an invoice or a receipt, such as the receipt for the hotel booking, up to the limit approved by the employer.
The per diem amount must not exceed twice the amount set in the regulations. Amounts above this limit are treated as taxable income.
Payhawk calculates the per diem expense amounts based on the trip details. The travel order and the trip report are managed outside Payhawk.
Specifics
Below are additional guidelines and conditions related to per diems for business travel in Bulgaria:
When the employer provides free meals and accommodation for the duration of the trip, no per diems are due. The Bulgarian regulation does not apply percentage-based meal deductions.
No daily allowance is paid for the days on which the employee returns to their permanent workplace.
Payhawk does not issue the travel order and does not provide additional tooling for documenting the trip. The travel order, the expense report, and the supporting documents required by the Bulgarian authorities are prepared and stored outside Payhawk.
First and last day of a trip
The first day of a trip always counts as a full day. The last day can count as a full day or a half day, depending on the return time. Every day in between is a full day.
First day (the day the trip starts): always a full day, regardless of the departure time.
Last day (the day the trip ends): a full day if the employee returns after 12:00, a half day if they return at 12:00 or earlier.
Payhawk sets this automatically from the trip dates and the return time, so you do not need to mark the first and last day by hand.
For example, an employee leaves on Monday at 08:00 and returns on Friday at 11:00.
Monday is the first day, so it is a full day.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are full days.
Friday is the last day and ends at 11:00, which is before 12:00, so it is a half day.
That is 4 full days and 1 half day.
Domestic trips
From January 1, 2026, the minimum daily allowance for domestic business trips is 22 EUR for each day of the trip when the employee stays overnight at the destination. For trips without an overnight stay, the daily allowance is 11 EUR.
For example, an employee is traveling from Sofia to Plovdiv and has filled in the following trip details:
In the Payhawk template, the rates for Bulgaria can be set in the following way:
Destination. Bulgaria
Destination code. BGR
Currency. EUR
Half day. 11
First/Last day. 11
Full day. 22
Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. 0. 0. 0. The deduction columns are set to 0 because the Bulgarian regulation does not apply percentage-based deductions for provided meals.
In this case, the system calculates the rates in the following way:
First/Last day: 44 EUR total will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount for the first and last days of the two-day trip.
Breakfast: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Lunch: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Dinner: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Trips abroad
For international business trips, the minimum daily allowances are set for each destination country in Appendix 2 of the Ordinance on business trips and specializations abroad. All amounts are defined in EUR and range from 35 EUR to 80 EUR per day, depending on the country.
For example, an employee is traveling from Sofia, Bulgaria to Munich, Germany and has filled in the following trip details:
In the Payhawk template, based on the data entered by the employee, the corresponding columns will be populated in the following way:
Destination. Germany
Destination code. DEU-Munich
Currency. EUR
Full day. 56
First/Last day. 28
Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. 0. 0. 0.
In this case, the system calculates the rates in the following way:
First/Last day: 112 EUR total will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount for the first and last days of the two-day trip.
Breakfast: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Lunch: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Dinner: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
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