The government wants to raise the monthly cap on food vouchers to €200 per employee and tax the part above €102 at 7%. The change is part of the 2027 draft budget, which the cabinet announced.

It would be the first time the benefit has been taxed since it was introduced. Finance minister Galab Donev said only the amount above the current €102 would be taxed. By the ministry's calculations, a worker would in practice receive up to €186, not €200. Vouchers stay exempt from social security contributions.

At present an employer can give a person up to €102.26 (200 leva) a month. The cap has not changed since 2022. The yearly quota for electronic vouchers would rise from €818m to €1.5bn.

The Association of Food Voucher Operators in Bulgaria welcomed the increase. Veronika Yordanova-Nedkova, a member of the association, told BTA: "With the old value of €102 we were at the bottom, and now we are climbing to levels close to those in countries like Belgium and Portugal." She said the rise had been long awaited, keeps the buying power of the benefit and brings Bulgaria closer to the EU average.

The association noted that food prices have risen by more than 50% since 2022, while the minimum wage has gone up by almost 70%. Its survey of employers last year showed that most want a higher tax-free amount, and that vouchers are among the benefits staff ask for most.

With the tax, Bulgaria will be among the few EU countries that tax vouchers, the association said. Romania, for example, does so now. Some EU states tax vouchers above a daily threshold of about €8–12. Yordanova-Nedkova warned that "the introduction of a tax must be very carefully designed as a mechanism, so that it does not also hit buying power."

Maya Manolova, chair of the Consumer Protection Commission, said she will ask the Commission for Protection of Competition to check how vouchers affect prices. She also mentioned operator fees of up to 6%.

Yordanova-Nedkova said the percentage for the voucher as a payment instrument must be told apart from the percentage in the contract between the merchant and the operator. In her view, the quoted figure of up to 6% is quite high and is certainly not charged. She said merchants take part entirely voluntarily, and that more small and medium-sized merchants have joined since digitalisation.

Paper vouchers came with administration and transport costs, and operators paid merchants about two weeks later, which tied up their cash, she added. With electronic vouchers, costs fall sharply and payment works like bank cards.

About a year ago, the competition commission examined the effect of digitalising vouchers and found no impact. The association expects a new check to reach the same conclusions and says it is ready to provide data if the regulator asks for it.