Tax Officials Find Skyrocketing Revenues at Bulgaria's Black Sea Resorts

Turnover of the tourism industry in Bulgaria's Black Sea resorts has been at a historic high for a second month in a row, tax authorities say.

The data comes in the second month of inspections conducted by the National Revenue Agency (NRA), amid concerns of a substantial share of the grey economy in the resorts.

Combined, sales at resorts have surpassed BGN 1 B (more than EUR 500 M) in just a month, hundreds of millions above what has been declared during previous peaks of the tourist season.

In July, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said some BGN 200 M in revenues had flowed into the agency for the month of large-scale inspections.

More than 500 tax inspectors are taking part in the operations. These involve the presence of officials as hotels, restaurants, clubs, retailers or other businesses are attending customers.

Bulgarian customs officers and the Commission for Consumer Protection (KZP) are also taking part.

The NRA is also urging citizens to refer to authorities in case of violations such as the refusal of businesses to give customers receipts for transactions. Such information can be submitted to infocenter@nra.bg or 0700 18 700.