British pensioners in Bulgaria

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

There is a double taxation agreement in place; you can download it from the UK Gov website (link).  When you've downloaded it, read Article 17.

If you have complicated tax affairs, I would always recommend you speak to an expert in the subject matter; check our our services section at the top of the page, you may find someone advertising their services.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you, Cynic! Useful information.

But LOL, gotta love the way these people write.

So I'm reading that as saying private UK pensions paid to a Brit resident in Bg can be taxed in Bg, but only if they aren't taxed in the UK;  and the British state OAP can only be taxed in the UK?

You may be taxed on your State Pension by the UK and the country where you live. If you pay tax twice, you can usually claim tax relief to get all or some of it back. If the country you live in has a 'double taxation agreement' with the UK, you'll only pay tax on your pension once.
But...........The standard Personal Allowance is £12,500. So you are only taxed on any amount over that

Hi all.

Put simply.  The keyword in tax matters is "assessed"; the fact that you have been assessed does not necessarily mean you will pay anything, for example, the UK has a personal allowance scheme that may be used to offset any income tax charges.

Where tax agreements exist they generally identify which specific taxes the agreement refers to and then states that the signatory states won't tax you twice on that identified tax.

State pensions are almost always assessed by the country that issues them.

Private pensions are classed as world-wide income and will normally be assessed in the country of residence (where you live for more than 183 days in any single tax year)

Watch out for social taxes, they almost always fall outside the scope of tax-agreements.  If you take early retirement, it can really hurt (as I found out).

I'm not a tax advisor.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you to all who replied to my query about tax on a UK pension in Bulgaria, and my apologies for not thanking you sooner.  I have only now noticed the Reply link below the messages!