Measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID -19 pandemic in area of corporate income tax, value added tax and electronic cash registers

Ruling of the Government of the Slovak Republic

In the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic, on 19 March 2020, the Ruling of Government of the Slovak Republic was announced on the expiring the tax arrears corresponding to the unpaid penalty related to the paid income tax (hereinafter referred to as the “Ruling”). The Ruling enters into force on the day of its announcement.

Pursuant to Section 160 para. 3 of Act no. 563/2009 Coll. on Tax Administration (Tax Code) as amended, the Government of the Slovak Republic orders:

• On 1January 2021, the outstanding balance of income tax penalty for late submission of the income tax return for the non-payment of income tax expires within the statutory period under the terms of the paragraph below,
• The tax arrears as per the paragraph above shall expire for the tax period for which the last filing day is on 31 March 2020, 30 April 2020 or 31 May 2020 if such income tax return was filed no later than 30 June 2020 and if the income tax was paid no later than 30 June 2020.

Corporate income tax measures

• If the taxpayer extended the deadline for filing corporate income tax return by 3 months, ie. by June 30, 2020, he is obliged to file a tax return and pay the tax by this date.
• If the taxpayer extended the deadline for filing the corporate income tax return by 1 or 2 months, ie. by 30 April or 31 May 2020, he may file a tax return and pay the tax by given dates of by 30 June 2020 applying wordings of the Ruling. This latter fact does not need to be reported to the tax administration.
• Taxpayer following the financial year who extended deadline for filing the tax return by 31 March 2020, may also apply wording of the Ruling, file the tax return and pay the tax by 30 June 2020. This latter fact does not need to be reported to the tax administration.
• If the taxpayer did not notify the tax administration by 31 March 2020 on extension of the filing deadline, he may apply wording of the Ruling and file the tax return and pay the tax by 30 June 2020.
• Wording of the Ruling does not apply for taxpayers in bankruptcy and liquidation. The Slovak tax administration and the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic are intensively working on helping these taxpayers too.
• If the taxpayer applying calendar tax period and generating abroad sourced income plans to file his tax return and pay tax later than on June 30, 2020 (by September 30, 2020), the taxpayer must officially announce the extension of filing deadline to the Slovak tax administration on 31 March 2020, the latest.
• Taxpayer pays tax advances based on the most recently filed tax return. If, due to current situation caused by COVID – 19 pandemic, the taxpayer does not have enough cash to pay tax advances, it may ask for possibility to pay zero tax advances. There is no need to provide any analysis with tax administration. No administrative fee applies.

  Value - added tax measures

• 25 March 2020 is the next deadline for submitting the VAT return and paying the tax. Until today, there is no legal possibility to extend this deadline. If the taxpayer fails to keep the deadline on time, he may ask the tax administrator to forgive the missed deadline. Current situation caused by COVID – 19 pandemic may be the reason. The Slovak tax administration and the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic are intensively working on helping these taxpayers too. The above said applies also to cumulative and control reports.
• For serious reasons, the tax administrator will forgive the missed deadline if the taxpayer ask for the forgiveness not later than 30 days from the date on which the reasons for the missed deadline have ceased to exist. Applying for this forgiveness, taxpayer has to pay an administrative fee of EUR 4.50 (in the case of non-electronic submission the administrative fee is of EUR 9.50). However, the tax administration is intensively working to change current legislation to avoid the obligation to pay administrative fee in this situation. The application for forgiveness of the missed deadline shall be submitted either electronically (if the taxpayer communicates electronically with the tax administration), or in paper form (if the taxpayer does not communicate electronically with the taxadministration).

Electronic cash register measures

• If the taxpayer has the approval of the Public Health Service of the Slovak Republic to open its business operation (shop), it is obliged to record receipts from the received cash for the sale of goods / service in the ECR in regular regime and hand over the receipt to the customer.
• If the taxpayer sells goods / provides a service, for example, directly at the customer’s or the customer collects the goods by himself, taxpayer hands over the goods with a cash receipt that was previously registered in the cash register at the shop.
• Taxpayer, whose operation was forcedto be closed by new governmental regulations, may issue an invoice for the sold goods. If such invoice is collected by bank transfer, this income is not registered in the electronic cash register, as this is not a cash transfer.

Processed based on sources:

Slov-Lex, Financial Report

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If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Crowe contact person or directly to our tax advisors (Vladimír Bartoš, +421 911 402 190 or Zuzana Sidorová, +421 911 908 268).