Bulgarians find accord too taxing

A BULGARIAN House of Representatives Committee wants a taxation agreement with Cyprus to be terminated, it was reported yesterday.

The convention, signed in 1985, prevents double taxation for one country’s companies operating in the other.

According to Athens News Agency, the Bulgarian Budget and Finance Committee said yesterday that the convention was not in Bulgaria’s best interests, and that ending it would prevent a large amount of Bulgarian currency leaving the country.

According to Committee information, approximately 250 Bulgarian companies currently operate in Cyprus, many of them linked to Greek companies.

The Committee also said that the total amount of currency brought into Cyprus by the companies was about $150 million (approximately £95.6 million.)

According to press agency sources in Sofia, the Bulgarian Plenum is expected to vote on the convention’s termination next week, and another will be drawn up in its place. The new convention would probably exclude offshore companies, the sources said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.