26.09.2017

Tobacco products and bottled alcoholic beverages will be sold with new excise labels as from 1 January 2018. In accordance with Article 64, paragraph 6 of the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act, the new samples have been approved by an order of the Minister of Finance three months before their entry into force, with the approval orders being promulgated in the State Gazette, issue 77 of 26.09.2017. The unit price of the excise labels has been preserved; it is BGN 0,013 for tobacco products and BGN 0,032 for alcoholic beverages.

The change in terms of the excise labels for tobacco products is the placing of a QR code containing an URL link to the web site of the Ministry of Finance. The code is a standard one and can be read via smartphone or tablet with any free application intended to read a QR code.

Excise goods having the existing excise labels may be placed on the market until they are exhausted but not later than 31 December 2018. The due excise duty has been paid upon their release for consumption and neither the budget nor the wholesalers and retailers will incur any losses from the sale of excise goods bearing the old excise label. Within 30 days of the entry into force of the new samples, the authorised warehousekeepers must return their unused excise labels to the customs office wherefrom they had obtained them.

You can find the samples of the new excise labels HERE.

Excise labels are government securities demonstrating the payment of the due excise duty for the excise goods released for consumption. They are issued by the Ministry of Finance as per an approved sample and are affixed to the consumer packing of the items subject to excise duty in such a way that the packing cannot be opened without breaking the integrity of the excise label. The samples of excise labels comprise a combination of security features in the graphic design, the paper, the inks, the hologram band, as well as various printing techniques. Each label has certain particulars: series, number, number of litres and alcoholic strength (for alcoholic beverages) and price (for tobacco products).