Renting Out a Holiday Apartment in Nesebar: Registration, Tourist Tax and Patent Tax

If you let a flat in Nesebar, Sunny Beach or the nearby villages to tourists by the night, Bulgarian law expects three things: the place is entered in the National Tourist Register, guests are recorded in a register that reaches the Unified Tourist Information System (ESTI, the Ministry of Tourism's national database of stays), and the municipality receives its tourist tax. Here are the steps, amounts and deadlines from the Tourism Act and Nesebar's local tax ordinance, checked as of October 2026. This is general information; for your own case ask the municipality, the National Revenue Agency (NAP) or an accountant.

In short

A flat or rooms let to tourists count as class "V" (in Bulgarian, клас „В") accommodation. They get no star rating; instead they are registered with the mayor of the municipality.
The registration fee is charged per bed: about €10.23 per bed (from the official service page, converted at the fixed rate).
Listings on Booking, Airbnb and similar platforms are allowed only for categorised or registered accommodation.
Nesebar's tourist tax for class "V" is €0.33 per night and is paid by the 15th of the following month.

Guest rooms or a guest apartment: what your property counts as

The Tourism Act sorts accommodation into three classes: hotels, guest houses and similar places are class "A" or "B", and class "V" covers guest rooms and guest apartments:

Guest rooms are up to 5 rooms, separate or within flats, in one building, offered to tourists for overnight stays.
Guest apartments are self-contained flats in one residential building, offered to tourists for overnight stays.

The law also allows a private individual who is not a registered trader to provide accommodation in guest rooms, guest apartments and guest houses, including when the rooms are part of the home they live in. A flat in an apartment tourist complex can also be registered as class "V" if it is not part of the complex's own capacity.

How to register the flat in Nesebar municipality

The mayor, or an authorised official, enters the place in the National Tourist Register and issues a certificate of registration.

Fill in the application-declaration form. It gives the person who will run the letting, the address, phone, email and details of the property's ownership.
If you are not the owner, attach a copy of the lease or other document showing you may run the activity there.
If someone files for you, an express power of attorney is attached. The municipality's service page asks for an original, notarised one.
Pay the fee. It is set by the tariff under the Tourism Act and is charged per bed when you file. The service page gives it in leva; at the fixed rate of 1.95583 that is about €10.23 per bed. Check the current amount with the municipality.
File the papers at the counter of the municipal Administrative Service Centre, 10 Edelweiss Street, Nesebar, by post, or online through the e-services portal.

The term is 7 days and the registration does not expire.

Listings on Booking and Airbnb

Tourist services may be offered online, including through a platform, only for categorised or registered accommodation. For places offered through such a platform, guests must also be able to pay electronically through the platform.

The guest register and ESTI

Everyone who provides accommodation keeps a register of the guests they host. The entry is made immediately when a guest checks in. The register can be kept:

in the Minister of Tourism's central online system, which passes the data to ESTI automatically;
in another information system of your choice that exchanges data automatically with ESTI;
on paper, on the form approved by the Minister of Tourism, in which case the data must be entered in ESTI within 24 hours of the entry.

For class "A" and "B" accommodation the law allows only the electronic options.

ESTI receives details from the guest's identity document, the arrival date and the departure date. These data are not public. The municipality sees the number of guests, their nationality and the number of nights, and NAP sees the same figures for the whole country.

Tourist tax: how much and when

Tourist tax is charged on overnight stays. It is owed by whoever provides the nights, not by the guest directly. Under Ordinance No. 14 of Nesebar Municipal Council, as of October 2026, it is €0.33 per night for class "V" (the same as for one- to three-star places), €0.38 for four-star and €0.61 for five-star class "A" places.

In practice:

A municipal official works out each month's tax from the ESTI data: the number of nights multiplied by the rate.
The tax is paid by the 15th of the month after the month of the stays.
The ordinance also requires a monthly declaration of the nights provided by the same date, and an annual declaration by 30 January for the previous year.
The tax must be shown separately on the document you give the guest.

Example: 4 guests for 7 nights make 28 nights, so 28 × €0.33 = €9.24 in tourist tax.

Patent tax: an option for small places

The income itself can be taxed through a patent tax: a fixed yearly amount per room. For that activity it replaces taxation under the Personal Income Tax Act.

It is for individuals, including sole traders, and is available for accommodation with no more than 20 rooms that is categorised with one or two stars or registered under the Tourism Act, provided that:

your turnover in the previous year did not exceed €25,564.59;
you are not registered for VAT (with the exceptions listed in the ordinance).

The yearly tax is per room and depends on the location:

Location	Yearly patent tax per room
Nesebar, Sunny Beach, Elenite	€51.13
Obzor, Sveti Vlas, Ravda	€35.79
Kosharitsa, Orizare, Tankovo, Gyulyovtsa, Banya, Rakovskovo, Panitsovo, Emona, Priseltsi	€12.78

Rates for 2026 from Ordinance No. 14 of Nesebar Municipal Council, checked in October 2026.

The declaration is filed with the municipality by 31 January, or, if you start later in the year, right before you start. Declare and pay the full amount by 31 January and you get a 5% discount. Otherwise the tax is paid in four instalments: by 31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October.

Whether it beats the standard regime depends on your income and tax status (for instance, if you live abroad): ask NAP or an accountant. For the fixed running costs of a flat, see what a Nesebar apartment really costs to hold.

What you risk without registration

The Tourism Act still states its fines in leva; converted at the fixed rate of 1.95583:

Letting nights in an unregistered place: a fine of about €255.65 to €2,556.46; for a repeat offence, about €2,556.46 to €4,090.34. Companies face higher penalties.
No guest register: a fine of about €1,022.58; for a repeat offence, about €2,045.17.
No data exchange with ESTI when the register is kept in your own system or on paper: a fine of about €511.29; for a repeat offence, about €1,022.58.

What your guests can expect and how they can complain is covered in your rights as a tourist in Bulgaria.

Where to check and whom to ask

Nesebar municipality, Categorisation of Tourist Sites department, 10 Edelweiss Street: registration and changes; phone numbers and links to the services are on the categorisation page of nesebar.bg.
The municipality's Local Taxes and Fees department: tourist tax, patent tax and declarations.
The Ministry of Tourism's National Tourist Register at ntr.tourism.government.bg, including the register of accommodation.

Sources

Tourism Act (current text) — Ciela Norma (read 29 October 2026)
Ordinance No. 14 on the amount of local taxes — Nesebar Municipal Council (read 29 October 2026)
Registration of class "V" accommodation: guest apartments and guest rooms — Nesebar Municipality in IISDA (read 29 October 2026)
Categorisation of accommodation — Nesebar Municipality in IISDA (read 29 October 2026)
Categorisation of tourist sites — Nesebar Municipality (read 29 October 2026)
National Tourist Register — Ministry of Tourism (read 29 October 2026)