Recovering an Unpaid Invoice in Bulgaria: Evidence Checklist

Identify the correct parties

• Creditor and debtor’s full legal names, registration numbers, addresses and any recent name or representative changes.
• Contract, accepted quotation, purchase order, incorporated terms and amendments. Preserve the provisions on applicable law, court or arbitration and notices.
• Evidence of who ordered or approved the work and their authority. A familiar trading name may belong to a different legal entity.

Show performance and acceptance

• Invoices, credit notes, delivery notes, transport documents, signed acceptance records, timesheets or service reports appropriate to the transaction.
• Original emails and attachments confirming the order, delivery, acceptance, complaints, requested changes or acknowledgement of the balance.
• For disputed work, the specification, change orders, defect allegations, responses and evidence of correction. Preserve unfavourable material as well as supporting documents.

Calculate the outstanding sum

• A dated schedule showing invoice number, issue date, contractual due date, original amount, currency, payments, credits and remaining principal.
• Bank statements or payment confirmations showing partial payments and how they were allocated.
• Any claimed interest, penalty or collection cost with its contractual or statutory basis and calculation. Avoid counting the same loss twice.
• The dates relevant to limitation and any alleged acknowledgement, court action or other legally significant event. Do not assume reminders interrupt limitation.

Prepare the recovery decision

• Demand letters, proof of delivery, replies, settlement proposals and any existing signed repayment agreement or security.
• Known debtor assets and available company-register or insolvency information. Distinguish verified facts from assumptions about ability to pay.
• For a foreign judgment or existing proceeding: the decision, enforceability information, certificates, service documents and translations that are available. The required route depends on the country and instrument.
• Your preferred outcome, minimum acceptable instalment terms, commercial relationship and any urgent deadline. Discuss expected legal, court, translation and enforcement costs.

Start an enquiry with the parties, principal amount, due date, whether the debt is disputed and where the debtor is based. Agree a secure document-sharing method. The appropriate procedure depends on the evidence, jurisdiction and claim; an invoice alone is not automatically an enforceable title.

Legal sources and scope

• Obligations and Contracts Act
• Registry Agency legislation: Civil Procedure Code and Spatial Development Act

Official sources are in Bulgarian. The English and Russian explanations are not official translations of the legislation.