Landlords, banks, employers and doctors will all ask for a number, and in Bulgaria it is not a "tax number" in the way you may expect. The country has no stand-alone tax ID for foreigners. Instead, the Bulgaria LNCh number, issued with your right of residence, does the job. Understanding this early saves you from searching for a form that does not exist.
What is the LNCh, and is it your Bulgarian tax number?
The ЛНЧ (lichen nomer na chuzhdenets, personal number of a foreigner) has ten digits. According to the information sheet that Bulgaria supplied to the OECD, foreigners who obtain a prolonged or permanent residence right receive an LNCh from the Ministry of the Interior, and it also acts as their tax identification number. Bulgarians have the ЕГН (edinen grazhdanski nomer, the unified civil number) instead.
So the answer is simple: once your residence is registered, the LNCh is the number to quote to the tax agency, the health fund and your bank. The registration steps are in residence in Bulgaria for EU citizens.
Where do you find your LNCh on paper?
Here is a surprise. The ministry's instruction does not list the personal number among the items printed on the paper certificate (certificate number, name, nationality, date of birth, sex, date of registration, validity). So do not assume it is there. When you collect the certificate, ask the officer to confirm your number and which document carries it, and photograph the answer.
EURES also notes that you need your LNCh from the Migration Directorate to register with a GP. In practice it is the first number you will be asked for after your arrival.
What if you are a tax resident without an LNCh?
Some people are tax residents before their paperwork is complete, or without a residence document of the kind that comes with an LNCh. For them the National Revenue Agency (NRA) issues a служебен номер (sluzheben nomer, service number), also ten digits. You file the form Искане за издаване на номер на чужденец (request for a foreigner's number, form OKd-162) at the territorial directorate of the NRA. It asks for your name, nationality, date of birth, sex, address and signature.
The NRA does not publish the list of documents to attach, so bring at least your passport or identity card and call ahead. This route matters for people with Bulgarian income or property who are not yet registered with the Migration office.
Which number applies to you depends on your status, and the two numbers are issued by two different bodies. Moovy can tell you which of them you probably need and what to take to the counter. It cannot file the request for you; you do that yourself.
How much does it cost and how long does it take?
We could not find a published fee or deadline. The ministry leaflet of 2016 refers to a tariff for "the certificate and the personal number" without reproducing it, and the 2026 tariff page of the Varna regional directorate has no separate line for the personal number. The NRA's page for the form states no fee or time either. Treat any website selling "your Bulgarian tax number" with caution: official pages mention no such charge, so confirm with the counter first.
What mistakes do newcomers make with Bulgarian numbers?
- Looking for a "Portuguese-style NIF". There is no separate tax number: personal number is the tax ID.
- Assuming the residence certificate makes you a tax resident. For the NRA, you are a resident if you have a permanent address in Bulgaria, stay more than 183 days in any 12-month period, or have your centre of vital interests there. A person with a permanent address can still be non-resident if their vital interests are elsewhere. The NRA sets out the tests on its page for local and foreign persons.
- Confusing the two numbers. The LNCh comes from the Ministry of the Interior; the service number comes from the NRA. Keep a written note of which you were given.
What changes for Swiss and British citizens?
Citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland follow the route above. Britons are third-country nationals since Brexit: they get an LNCh with a prolonged or permanent residence document issued under the Foreigners Act, or with the withdrawal-agreement document if they lived in Bulgaria before 2021. If they are tax residents without an LNCh, the NRA service number applies. More in moving to Bulgaria from the UK.
How does a Bulgaria LNCh number differ from the EGN?
Bulgarian citizens carry the ЕГН (edinen grazhdanski nomer), a ten-digit civil number issued at birth that serves as their identifier for tax, health and everything else. Resident foreigners do not get an EGN. The LNCh plays the same role for them, and the NRA's service number covers tax residents who have neither. Three numbers, one purpose: to identify you in the state's registers. For you the practical question is only which of the three applies, and who issues it.
This matters when a form asks for "EGN/LNCh". You write your LNCh. If a form accepts only an EGN, ask the institution how a foreigner should fill it in, and keep their answer in writing.
Where will you be asked for your Bulgaria LNCh number?
The list is long and starts early. The health fund wants it to register you with a GP; EURES says the LNCh from the Migration Directorate is needed for that registration. Banks ask for a personal number or residence document when you open an account. Your employer needs it to declare you. The tax agency needs it for returns and for any request for a personal access code. You will also quote it at the municipality when you declare a property.
For this reason, treat the number as the first item to secure after your residence certificate. See residence in Bulgaria for EU citizens for the application itself and healthcare in Bulgaria for the GP registration that depends on it.
What documents support the LNCh application?
The LNCh is not applied for separately by an EU citizen who registers residence: it comes with the right of prolonged or permanent residence. The documents are therefore those of the residence file: identity document, proof of your situation, proof of your address and proof of payment of the fee. If you later need the NRA service number instead, the form (OKd-162) asks for your name, nationality, date of birth, sex, address and signature, and the NRA has not published the full list of attachments.
What happens if the numbers do not match across your documents?
Mismatches are a classic source of delay. A name transliterated one way on your passport and another on a bank form, a number copied with a missing digit, or a birth date in the wrong order can block an application. Take your time at the counter: read the printed form, check the transliteration of your name, and keep it identical on every Bulgarian document you sign afterwards.
If you find an error after the fact, ask the issuing office how to correct it rather than creating a second record.
Who needs the NRA service number?
Mostly people who have a tax link to Bulgaria before, or without, the residence paperwork of an EU citizen: someone who has Bulgarian income or property and is a tax resident, but has no LNCh. The NRA says it assigns the service number to a tax resident without an LNCh. If you are unsure if you are a tax resident, read the three tests on the NRA's page for local and foreign persons first, because the answer decides which number you need.
What do you need the number for first?
Almost everything follows from it: a GP registration, health contributions, a bank account, tax declarations and a work contract. For the order, see the guide to moving to Bulgaria. Procedures change, so confirm with the Migration Directorate and the NRA.