Align payroll and social security coverage with each employee’s work arrangement, including an assessment of whether an A1 certificate is appropriate.
A client came to ARG because foreign employee payroll and the related A1 work needed to be organised properly from the beginning. ARG combined a technical review with practical implementation and connected the work to the wider finance process. The completed file was easier to maintain, with the supporting records and filing work considered together.
That is the practical issue behind many cross-border payroll decisions. Working physically in Bulgaria does not automatically determine which social-security system applies. The assignment may involve temporary posting or regular work in more than one Member State, and the correct route depends on the actual work pattern and the evidence supporting it.
ARG can help when you need to
Supply the employee’s residence, employer, work countries, dates and other jobs; nationality alone does not select the insurance system.
For the ordinary posting route, evidence the employer’s real activity, continuing employment, expected duration within 24 months and non-replacement.
Provide a forward work schedule and earnings allocation; the residence-state institution starts the Article 16 applicable-law procedure.
Check work permission, host-country employment rules and tax withholding alongside A1, with authorised access for the appropriate filing.
A foreign employee needs a payroll arrangement that matches where they actually work and which country’s social-insurance law applies. A1 is the certificate confirming that applicable law for a person and period; it is not a work permit, tax-residence certificate or payslip. A Bulgarian company can therefore need Bulgarian payroll calculations while coordinating insurance or tax obligations abroad. Before the first assignment or remote-working month, identify the employer, work locations, residence, other jobs and planned duration. Those facts determine the registration and reporting steps, rather than the employee’s nationality or the currency used to pay them.
Article 11 of Regulation 883/2004 establishes one applicable social-security system and ordinarily starts with the country where work is performed, subject to the regulation’s exceptions. Temporary posting and normal work in several states have their own rules. The certificate issued under Article 19(2) of Regulation 987/2009 records the applicable legislation. Keep it with the assignment file and check its dates and employer details against the actual work; a certificate for an earlier arrangement should not be carried forward without reviewing changes.
If the worker is covered by another Member State’s law, Bulgarian social-security treatment should not be applied just because the work is physically performed in Bulgaria. If Bulgarian law applies, then the Bulgarian payroll position follows from that result. The decision therefore turns on the cross-border facts, not on the employer’s preference or on where the employee is temporarily sitting.
That is why ARG’s role is to test the work pattern against the coordination rules, gather the facts that show where coverage belongs, and align payroll with the correct legal system before the file is submitted. The result is a cleaner onboarding process, fewer correction risks, and a record that can be defended if another institution later asks why a particular system was used.
A temporary assignment may come within Article 12 of Regulation 883/2004. Normal work in two or more states instead requires Article 13 and the procedure in Article 16 of Regulation 987/2009. Under that procedure, the person informs the designated institution in their state of residence. This is different from the Article 15 notification used for relevant work outside the competent state, including ordinary posting cases. A Bulgarian employer does not automatically make Bulgaria the correct starting institution for every employee who works internationally.
A posting case exists where the employer normally carries out activities in one Member State, sends the worker to another Member State for a temporary period, and the worker is not sent to replace another posted person. The rule also sets a 24-month limit. That time limit and the non-replacement condition both matter. If either condition is not met, the posting analysis can fail and another coverage route may have to be used.
For normal employment in several states, establish the worker’s residence and the expected pattern over the next twelve months. Article 14 of Regulation 987/2009 assesses substantial activity through working time and/or remuneration; a share below 25% indicates that activity in the state is not substantial in the overall assessment. This is not a free choice of the cheaper insurance system. Collect a realistic work schedule, contracts and details of all employers. Occasional travel, routine weekly work abroad and an open-ended remote-work arrangement must be distinguished before selecting the legal route.
The A1 file must match the real work pattern, not the label used in the contract.
For Bulgarian operational purposes, the National Revenue Agency is the authority that handles the A1 request route and the related notifications. Its current guidance also identifies different form families for employed persons, self-employed persons, posted work, and work in one or in two or more Member States. In other words, ARG first has to classify the arrangement correctly, then choose the filing route that fits that classification.
The commercial consequence is important. A posted employee, a cross-border commuter, and a person who splits duties between Bulgaria and another Member State may all need different supporting facts and different A1 handling. ARG’s value is in making that distinction early, so payroll, social-security coverage, and the filing form all point to the same legal conclusion.
Tell us where you live, how your business works and what you want to change. We will help you identify the questions to resolve and the next steps to consider.
Before filing, prepare a factual assignment record: employer, residence, work states, dates, expected working time in each state and any other employment or self-employment. For posting, test Article 12 of Regulation 883/2004; for normal multi-state work, use Article 13 and Article 16 of Regulation 987/2009. The latter begins with notification to the institution of the worker’s residence state. This record lets payroll, HR and the competent institution assess the same arrangement, including whether a previous certificate remains relevant after the person changes location or adds another job.
The evidence should establish the employer’s normal activity in one Member State, the worker’s employment relationship, the planned destination and dates, the temporary character of the assignment, and the non-replacement condition where posting is claimed. For multi-state work, the file should instead show the actual pattern of work across Member States and which state should receive the advance notification. If those facts are not consistent, the request can be delayed or refused because the legal route itself is unclear.
A practical way to think about this is simple. Eligibility facts answer whether the rule can apply. Documents prove those facts. For example, a contract may show the employment relationship, but it does not by itself prove that the assignment is temporary or that the worker is not replacing another posted person. Those points usually need to be supported by the assignment plan, internal instructions, travel or rotation schedule, and the wider operational context.
ARG would normally prepare the file by aligning the working pattern with the applicable social-security rule and then checking whether the evidence package matches that rule. That is the part many employers underestimate. If the paperwork describes one route and the real work pattern reflects another, the NRA can refuse the request on the basis that the facts do not support the requested coverage period.
A useful checklist before filing is the following.
If the employer can answer those points cleanly, the filing is usually easier to defend and the payroll position is more stable. If not, the safer next step is to correct the facts first, because the A1 process is built around the real allocation of social-security law, not around a convenient label.
The NRA’s Bulgarian A1 service accepts paper submissions and electronic requests using the permitted NRA PIN or qualified electronic-signature access. For employees, formOKd 236 covers the relevant Article 15 route, while OKd 237 addresses work in two or more states and Article 16 notification. Separate forms cover self-employed and mixed employed/self-employed situations. Select the form after identifying the competent institution and legal basis. Attach the contracts, assignment plan and supporting employer information, check representative access, then retain the submitted version and acknowledgement so that later requests can be answered consistently.
For a client, the most important point is that the form is not the decision. It is only the procedural vehicle. The legal classification must be right first, because the NRA processes the request through the competent structure and then either issues the A1 certificate or gives a reasoned refusal if the facts do not support Bulgarian social-security law for the requested period. That is why the file should be built as an evidence package, not as a simple administrative upload.
The current NRA guidance states a standard decision period of 30 days from receipt of the request, or 45 days if the request was filed through another territorial directorate of the NRA. Those periods matter because they help the employer plan onboarding and payroll timing, but they are not a guarantee that every case will be resolved instantly. A file that raises factual gaps can take effort to clarify, especially where the assignment touches both posting and multi-state work indicators.
This is also where a practical compliance decision is made. If the employer starts payroll before the A1 position is clear, the file may later need correction. If the request is filed too late, the employer may not have the certificate in hand when another institution asks for proof of applicable law. For that reason, ARG’s work is not just filing support. It is sequence control, so the employee’s onboarding, the payroll treatment and the social-security evidence all move together.
If the case is straightforward, the process is usually administrative and contained. If the work pattern is mixed or unusual, ARG should expect to spend more time on factual alignment before the filing goes in. That is usually faster than trying to repair the position after a refusal.
If the NRA refuses the A1 request, the first practical step is to read the refusal against the actual facts, not only against the wording of the form. The current NRA guidance says that refusal can be appealed to the territorial director of the NRA. That means the employer is not left without a procedural route, but the appeal should address why the requested applicable-law position was not accepted and which facts need correction or clarification.
Article 5 of Regulation 987/2009 governs recognition of documents issued by another state’s institution while they remain valid. If facts appear wrong, the institutions have a clarification and review procedure; the employer should promptly disclose the discrepancy and seek correction. Check the worker, employer, period and legal basis printed on A1 against the actual assignment. Keep the issued document accessible to both payroll teams and the person working abroad, and notify relevant changes rather than assuming that a certificate remains suitable for a new employer or materially different work pattern.
If no certificate has been issued or a request is refused, first identify the legal reason and the period affected. Separate a missing document from a decision that Bulgarian legislation does not apply. Record the institution contacted, outstanding evidence and proposed payroll treatment, and coordinate the contribution obligations in the competent state. Continue meeting payment and reporting duties while resolving the position; an unanswered application is not an exemption. The practical review should address these points together:
That review matters because a refusal does not automatically prove that Bulgarian social-security law applies. It may mean the request was filed under the wrong route, the facts were incomplete, or the expected duration and replacement position were not proven. In other words, the issue may be procedural, factual, or substantive, and the response should match the real defect.
A practical example helps. If the employer assumed a posting case but the employee actually splits work between Bulgaria and another Member State on a continuing basis, the proper answer may be to reclassify the case and file through the multi-state route instead of pushing the same posting file on appeal. That is usually more effective than arguing the wrong legal label.
For the employer, the next consideration is documentary discipline. Keep the assignment plan, work pattern evidence, filing copy, refusal letter and appeal file together. If a new filing is needed, it should be built from the corrected facts rather than from the previous version. That is the point at which ARG adds real value, because the payroll position is only as strong as the applicable-law record behind it.
Compare the related procedures in this category, including their requirements and the stage at which you need them.
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