December 7 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's National Assembly said it adopted changes to the legislation on corporate taxation which will enable the state to temporarily tax excessive profits generated by companies active in the crude oil, petroleum refining, natural gas and coal industries.
Lawmakers agreed on 33% corporate tax on windfall profits applicable in 2022 and 2023, parliament said in a press release on Tuesday.
The measure aligns with an EU strategy to alleviate the burden of high energy prices on wholesale and retail end users.
The Bulgarian Energy Holding, which comprises state-owned energy companies, already contributes regular payments to the Electricity System Security Fund (ESSF) to cover state subsidies extended to businesses to offset the spike in electricity prices. The state will now be able to top up the funds in the ESSF with revenue from corporate tax.
Last month, the Bulgarian caretaker government and Lukoil Bulgaria, part of the European arm of Russian petroleum company Lukoil, reached agreement on Lukoil transferring its financial operations to Bulgaria, which will lead to additional contribution of between 600 million and 700 million levs ($374.7 million/357.9 million euro) in revenue to Bulgaria's budget next year.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)