Do I need a fiscal device for an online shop in Bulgaria

What decides whether you need a fiscal device

The most common confusion is that an online shop by itself requires a fiscal device. It does not. The obligation comes from article 118 of the VAT Act and Ordinance H-18, and it attaches not to the sales channel but to how the money reaches you. The same shop can owe a receipt for some orders and not for others, on the same day.

The rule in one sentence: a payment in cash, or in something treated as cash, requires a fiscal receipt from a registered device. Everything else - a bank transfer, and under certain conditions cash on delivery - falls outside it. The rest of this article is just that sentence unpacked.

It matters just as much what a fiscal receipt is not. An invoice is not one. An order confirmation email is not one. A Stripe receipt is not one. A courier waybill is not one. The only substitute that matters for an online shop is the postal money transfer receipt, and it only works under specific conditions.

The matrix by payment method

Here is the whole obligation in one table. Verified in September 2026 against public sources; Ordinance H-18 changes often, so confirm with your accountant before configuring your shop around it.

The practical upshot: if you take only bank transfer and cash on delivery as a ППП, today you owe a fiscal receipt on no order at all. The by-courier table below shows that, through ZweiHost, no courier collects it that way today. The problem starts the moment you add card payments or a courier whose cash on delivery is not a ППП - Econt since 25 September 2026, unless you sign Econt’s agreement for it to issue the receipt for you, and Speedy and Sameday, whose waybills in ZweiHost request ordinary cash on delivery.

Which couriers cover the receipt and which do not

The cash-on-delivery exception does not apply to cash on delivery in general. It applies to the postal money transfer, a service a courier may only offer while holding an individual licence under article 39(3) of the Postal Services Act. The receipt the customer gets when paying then plays the role of the fiscal receipt.

Three things matter - the licence, the contract AND the waybill. Cash on delivery through the same courier but without a ППП agreement in place is ordinary cash collection and needs a receipt. So is a waybill that requests ordinary cash on delivery: with Speedy, for example, cash on delivery and cash on delivery via ППП are separate services, and ZweiHost’s Speedy waybills request the first. If you are not sure what you signed, that is the first question to put to your courier.

And one date you need to know. From 25 September 2026 Econt no longer collects cash on delivery as a postal money transfer - the last ППП parcels went out on 24 September, as part of Econt’s announced exit from postal services. So cash on delivery through Econt no longer substitutes for the fiscal receipt, and Econt is the default courier for a large share of Bulgarian shops. In place of ППП, Econt offers its “Online sales without a cash register” service: under a separate agreement Econt issues the fiscal receipt in your name, but only for parcels prepared electronically with an item list or with your invoice number and date. ZweiHost is adding support for the service; without such an agreement, the receipt for cash on delivery through Econt is your obligation.

What ZweiHost does, and what it does not

It pays to be specific here, because this is where expensive misunderstandings start. The platform shows you the consequence at configuration time: for each courier you see which payment methods are allowed and what follows fiscally from that choice, and every order whose receipt stays with you carries an explicit note in the admin. There is also a page that computes whether you qualify for the no-fiscal-device regime.

What ZweiHost does not do matters just as much:

Where to start

First check what you actually accept. Open your courier settings and look at which payment methods are enabled for each - it often turns out a method nobody uses has been left switched on, and creates an obligation all by itself.

Then decide what you want to offer. If card payments bring you enough orders to justify a fiscal device or the article 3(17) regime, switch them on deliberately. If not, turning them off is a perfectly legitimate decision and makes your life considerably simpler.

And finally, take this conversation to your accountant with the specifics: which couriers, which payment methods, whether you have a physical location. This article exists so you arrive prepared, not so you can skip the meeting.