The first SAF-T filings of 2026: common problems
Bulgaria’s largest companies have been filing SAF-T since early 2026. The problems that come up most often, and what companies in later phases can learn.
The first SAF-T phase started on 1 January 2026, for Bulgaria’s largest companies. These are businesses with large finance teams, established ERP systems and outside advisers, and still the first filings were rarely smooth.
For companies joining in 2027, 2028 or later, the first months of phase I are a useful preview. The problems below are the ones that come up again and again when companies prepare and submit their first SAF-T files.
1. The file does not pass validation
The NRA checks every file against its XML schema. Typical reasons for rejection:
- Missing mandatory fields, such as identifiers for customers and suppliers.
- Wrong formats: dates, amounts, country codes or currency codes that do not match the schema.
- An outdated schema version, because the software was configured before the NRA published an update.
These are technical problems, but each rejection costs time close to a deadline.
2. Account mapping that was “nearly done”
Mapping the chart of accounts to the SAF-T structure is often treated as a one-off task. In practice, new accounts are opened during the year, and every unmapped account causes errors or ends up in the wrong place in the file. Mapping needs an owner and a monthly check.
3. Master data cleaned too late
Customers without VAT numbers, duplicated suppliers and inconsistent product data are easy to ignore in daily accounting. In a SAF-T file they become visible to the NRA. Companies that cleaned their master data before the first file had far fewer issues than those that tried to fix it month by month.
4. Group ERP systems without Bulgarian localisation
Bulgarian subsidiaries of international groups often depend on a central IT team abroad. Where nobody had planned the Bulgarian SAF-T export early enough, local finance teams spent the first months building files with temporary workarounds.
5. Nobody owned the file
The most common root cause is organisational. Finance assumed IT would produce the file, IT assumed the software vendor would, and the vendor assumed finance would check it. Clear ownership, with one person responsible for each monthly file, solves more problems than any tool.
6. SAF-T and the VAT return did not agree
Because the VAT return is due by the 14th and the SAF-T file by the end of the month, adjustments made in between ended up in one report but not the other. A single monthly close for both reports avoids this.
What later phases can do differently
- Start with a test export months before your first deadline.
- Clean up master data and account mapping first.
- Agree who owns the file, who reviews it and who submits it.
- Use the grace period to fix problems, not to postpone the work.
How we can help
We run readiness checks, test files against the NRA rules and review every monthly file before it is submitted. Check when SAF-T applies to you
