Today the members of parliament /MPs/ voted final amendments to the Law on Value Added Tax /VAT/ and accepted the abolition of VAT on donated goods. The aim is to encourage businesses to donate rather than discard usable food that can reach those in need.

Under current legislation donated food products are subject to 20% tax unlike scrap food. Thus, each year in Bulgaria leads to the destruction of about 670 thousand tons of food, while donations from businesses for the past year, for example, less than 1 percent of the total amount that was destroyed - approximately 250 tonnes. The new law provides that food donated up to 30 days before the expiration date, will not be subject to VAT. The value of donated goods per year should not exceed half percent of the turnover of the donor to the previous year.

According to the proposed amendments concerning the food donations should benefit the  non-profit legal entities on order for them to  purpose for the public benefit listed in the register of committing food banking. Food banking can be done only by persons who meet the requirements and have been authorized to operate a food bank, which will be for a period of five years.

The changes will take effect from January 1, 2017, bearing in mind that the specific provisions will become clear after the publication of the final adopted text.