On 26 April 2021, the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic submitted a draft amendment, which among other things would introduce changes to the VAT Act. The purpose is to adopt a set of legislative measures aimed at improving VAT collection.
The proposed changes include:
- Introduction of a notification obligation on taxpayers, whereby they must submit to the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic details of the bank accounts used in their business activity that should be subject to VAT, including all changes or cancellations of the bank accounts in question. In the event that a taxpayer wishes to use a private bank account for business purposes, such changes must be announced in advance. In addition, any excess VAT deductions are to be refunded by the Tax Authority exclusively to the bank account submitted by the taxpayer. A list of the taxpayer bank accounts would be published on the website of the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic.
- Introduction of changes to the tax guarantee in situations where the taxpayer in receipt of a taxable supply in Slovakia should or may have known that the supplier (the VAT payer) would not pay all or part of the tax amount in question. The tax guarantee would also apply in cases where the consideration is paid to a bank account that does not feature on the list of bank accounts published by the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic or to the bank account of another person.
- Introduction of a new method for the payment of tax on the supply of goods or services by a VAT payer in Slovakia where the goods or services are subject to VAT. The purpose of this measure is to avoid application of the tax guarantee against a VAT payer who is in the position of customer and who at the time the tax becomes payable should or may have known that the supplier would not pay all or part of the tax amount stated on the invoice. In this case, the tax stated on the invoice will not be paid by the customer as part of the price of the taxable supply to its supplier, but the invoiced amount will be divided into the tax base to be paid to the supplier, with the tax being paid to the taxpayer´s account for tax purposes.
The amendment proposes an obligation on taxpayers to notify the Financial Directorate of Slovak Republic of their bank accounts by 30 November 2021, with other changes effective from 1 January 2022.
