You pay €1.578 per litre for diesel in Bulgaria. Of that, €0.593 (37.6%) is tax and €0.985 is the product itself — crude oil, refining, transport and the retailer's margin combined. The tax is made up of €0.330 excise duty, €0.000 in other levies, and €0.263 VAT at 20%.
Fuel is one of the most heavily taxed products in Europe, and the split between what the fuel costs and what the state collects explains most of the price gap between neighbouring countries. Here is exactly how the money you pay for each litre is split up in Bulgaria, using the European Commission's weekly figures from 20 July 2026.
| Component | Per litre | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Product cost | €0.985 | 62.4% |
| Excise duty | €0.330 | 20.9% |
| Other levies | €0.000 | 0.0% |
| VAT (20%) | €0.263 | 16.7% |
| Total tax | €0.593 | 37.6% |
| Pump price | €1.578 | 100% |
The fuel itself: crude oil, refining, storage, transport to the station and the retailer's margin. The European Commission reports these as a single figure. This is the part that moves when oil markets move — and it is broadly similar across the EU, because everyone buys on the same world market.
A fixed amount per litre set by the national government, charged whatever the oil price does. Excise is the single biggest reason a litre costs more in one country than in its neighbour: it does not fall when crude falls.
Country-specific levies on top of excise — carbon charges, biofuel obligations, strategic stock fees, regional surcharges. Small in most countries, but they are the part that changes most often as climate policy tightens.
Value added tax at 20%, applied to everything above — including the excise duty. That is why VAT is a tax on a tax, and why a rise in crude prices raises the tax take automatically.
Filling a 50-litre tank in Bulgaria costs about €78.90 at today's price. €29.67 of that goes to the state and €49.24 covers the fuel itself. Put differently: roughly 37.6% of every fill-up is tax.
At 37.6%, the tax share in Bulgaria is 4.5 percentage points below the EU average of 42.1%. Across the 27 member states Bulgaria ranks 23rd by tax burden on diesel.
The most heavily taxed diesel in the EU right now is in Malta (54.3%); the lightest burden is in Sweden (26.6%).
We do not yet have a full year of comparable breakdown data for Bulgaria.
37.6% — €0.593 of every €1.578 litre. That is €0.330 in excise duty, €0.000 in other levies and €0.263 in VAT.
Almost always because of excise duty, not the fuel itself. Every EU country buys on the same world market, so product cost is similar everywhere (€0.985 per litre here). What differs is the fixed duty each government adds — and the VAT rate applied on top of it.
Yes. VAT at 20% is calculated on the full price including excise, so it is charged on the tax too. This is why the total tax take rises automatically whenever crude oil gets more expensive.
Weekly. The figures come from the European Commission's Oil Bulletin, which member states report every Monday and the Commission publishes mid-week. The numbers on this page are from 20 July 2026.
Crude oil, refining margin, storage, transport to the filling station and the retailer's own margin — reported by the Commission as one combined figure of €0.985 per litre. It is not broken down further at source.
Source: European Commission — Weekly Oil Bulletin. Data from 20 July 2026 · European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin.