[dimonomid]

My math still can't show how this is true.

If we take a gross income of 20K BGN (which is not a bad income for a software engineer), then with dividends, net income will be roughly this:

  20000*0.9*0.95-710*(0.148+0.05+0.08) = 16902, which means taxes are 15.59%.

And if it all goes as a salary, then net is roughly this:

  20000*0.9-3000*(0.148+0.05+0.08) = 17166, which means taxes are 14.17%. It's lower than dividends, but still far from the 11.5% that you mentioned.

To get to 11.5%, the gross income has to be around 50K:

  50000*0.9-3000*(0.148+0.05+0.08) = 44166, so the taxes are around 11.67%.

Could you clarify in which range your gross income is, is it closer to 50K BGN than 20K BGN?

I guess there can be some bonuses which aren't taxed, and this way one could reduce the tax, but paying large bonuses to myself smells too much to me since it's clearly done just to pay less taxes.