2018 brings some changes to the VAT in Slovakia.
1. Change to VAT margin scheme in the provision of tourism services
Based on the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the amendment to the VAT Act under preparation with proposed effect from 1 January 2018 changes the regulation of the special margin scheme in the provision of tourism services.
According to the current legal regulation, the special margin scheme can only be applied if consumers/travellers are the recipients of the tourism services in question.
The proposed change extends the application of the special margin scheme to every sale of tourism services, regardless of the recipient of the services (e.g. a traveller or an entrepreneur purchasing a package of tourism services for business-related purposes, for resale purposes or business trips).
After this change comes into force, travel agencies will no longer be able to tax individual tourism services and buyers, i.e. taxpayers, will no longer be able to deduct the tax on such services.
2. Change to triangular trade conditions
A change to one of the conditions of triangular trade
While at present in order to be able to apply the simplification procedure rule for triangular trade the first customer must not be registered for VAT in the Member State of the second customer, under the proposed amendment it will be sufficient if the first customer has neither a registered office nor an establishment in the Member State of the second customer
3. Other VAT changes in Slovakia
The amendment to the VAT Act with proposed effect from 1 January 2018 introduces, inter alia, the following changes:
- A limitation of the customer´s VAT liability from the previous level of VAT liability. One of the statutory conditions for such liability has been removed, i.e. that the customer had performed a taxable transaction with the payer at a time when the payer was on the list of payers fulfilling the conditions for cancellation of registration
- An extension of the duty to deposit a tax guarantee to cases where the applicant is a natural person or legal entity with VAT arrears of EUR 1,000 or more on the date of filing an application for VAT registration, or where the applicant’s VAT registration has been cancelled
- A proposed extension of the definition of fixed assets for the purpose of adjustment of deducted tax from buildings to all types of construction
- The possibility of issuing a summary invoice in cases where the recipient of supplies is a foreign taxable person
- The transfer of the tax liabilities to the customer on selected commodities (agricultural plants, metals, steel, iron and semi-finished metal products) is to be applied without limitation. Currently, this procedure can only be applied with a tax base of EUR 5,000 or more
- Introduction of the obligation to submit an EC sale list for persons registered for VAT due to receipt of goods or services pursuant to Article 7 and Article 7a if they take part in a triangular trade arrangement as the first customer.
If you have questions about the new VAT rules, do not hesitate to contact our local tax experts in Slovakia:
- Tax advisor Peter Danovsky
- Tax advisor Klaus Krammer, German Desk
TPA offers an overview of the most important tax innovations in the following CEE and SEE countries in which we operate: Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Investing in CEE/SEE 2018