Coronavirus: Government measures for the Slovak Republic

According to the Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic, the planned measures should be within the competence of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic and should also relate to taxes and levies. Therefore, we would like draw your attention to a brief overview of the planned measures stated below.

• Negotiations with banks on the possibility of postponing loan repayments without any negative consequence - no entry in the debtors register and on the possibility of freezing interest and principal repayments for individuals but also for legal entities;
• Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank (SGDB) will provide short-term loans for selected sectors with simpler conditions and rules;
• Funding the support of the private sector – setting apart funds through the Slovak Investment Holding (SIH) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support private sector investment;
• Adjust the possibility of tax loss – extension for a longer period;
• Postponing the submission of the tax return for all taxpayers to 30.6.2020;
• Complete abolition of social and health levies payments for self-employed workers;
• Exemption from the payments of social and health deductions for employees of those businesses, that had to close due to imposed measures;
• Contributions for the retention of jobs for small businesses and sole traders;
• Reducing the price of energy, part of the amount could also be paid by the state;
• Allowing using the European Structural and Investment Funds to cover the impact of the crisis, more flexible drawing from the Funds;
• Change in the conditions of eligibility of benefit for taking care of the children:
• If the child has two parents, one will stay at home on a special sickleave and receive 80 percent of his/her average salary. If the child has only one parent or both of his parents cannot work, the state could give them an EUR 600  voucher to cover their costs;
• Sanction for importers of raw materials for production from third countries - the customs debt (which must be paid within 10 days) could be extended to 30-40 days;
• Not imposing fines on companies if they are unable to meet the conditions of public contracts on time, not imposing fines if, for example, the refrigerators are not at the right temperature.

According to the Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic, the above-mentioned planned measures are not final. These are the measures that must be accepted by the Government of the Slovak Republic. Part of the measures will have to go through the legislative process by the National Council of the Slovak Republic. In some cases, the legislation in force will need to be amended. Richard Sulík, the new Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic, also agrees with the proposed measures.

The measures proposed by the Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic are continuously announced in the media and are also continuously published on the website of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic: https://www.mhsr.sk/