Registration of taxpayers ex officio
The registration and notification obligation related to the tax registration of taxpayers – natural and legal persons – ex officio is changing. After the registration of a taxpayer (e.g. a company) in the Register of Legal Persons, the deadline for automatic tax registration performed by the tax administration is postponed to 1 January 2022. This fact is defined in Section 49a(1) of the Income Tax Act as well as in Section 52zzk(1) of the Income Tax Act.
Introduction of new rules regarding reverse hybrid mismatches – in effect from 1 January 2022
With the implementation of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive 2, new rules have been introduced on hybrid mismatches with the aim of preventing non-taxation of income which occurs with reverse hybrid entities. According to the Directive, an entity shall be deemed an independent taxpayer if the state where the entity was established will consider such an entity to be transparent and this perception will be shared by the country of the non-resident founder of the company. These rules apply to income that would otherwise not be taxed in either country.
From 1 January 2022, Section 17j containing a definition of the terms “transparent entity” and “reverse hybrid entity” is inserted into the Act. Within the meaning of this provision, a transparent entity refers to a public company or a general partnership with a registered office in the territory of the Slovak Republic, an entity with legal personality and an entity without legal personality, established or constituted in the territory of the Slovak Republic whose income (revenue) is taxed only at the level of partners or recipients of income (revenue) received from an entity with legal personality or recipients of income (revenue) received from an entity without legal personality.
In the case of a reverse hybrid entity, this is a situation where the same entity is deemed:
- from the point of view of the state of its establishment to be transparent – income is taxed at the level of the partner, and
- from the point of view of the state of its founder to be an independent tax entity (non-transparent) – income is taxed at the level of the company – which creates the risk of double non-taxation.
Under Section 17j of the Income Tax Act, income accruing to foreign (non-resident) partners who meet the condition of owning 50% or more of the shares in a transparent company will be taxed at the level of such transparent company with a corporate tax rate of 21%, provided that this income cannot be taxed through a permanent establishment, either in the State of residence of the relevant transparent company or abroad.
Following the new rules, a new notification obligation for foreign partners of transparent companies under Section 49a of the Income Tax Act is introduced from 1 January 2022. Foreign partners meeting the criteria for participation in the share capital, voting rights or those entitled to at least a 50% share in the profits shall be obliged to declare the status of a transparent company in order to be able to apply a proper taxation method.
Extension of CFC rules to natural persons – in effect from 1 January 2022
Rules regarding controlled foreign corporations (CFC rules) refer to measures intended to prevent diverting profits to tax havens. With the Amendment to the Act, these rules also apply to natural persons as of 1 January 2022. These are most often shell companies established in countries with minimal or no tax burden whose activities affect Slovak natural persons. Income from these companies is not taxed in the territory of the Slovak Republic as dividends but it is taxed at the minimum tax rate or not at all.
A controlled foreign corporation (“CFC”) refers to a situation where:
- natural persons by themselves or together with dependent persons have a direct, indirect, or an indirect derived share in the capital, voting rights or are entitled to at least a 10% share in the profits, or have effective control over this company;
- a controlled foreign corporation is a taxpayer of a non-cooperating jurisdiction or is not a taxpayer of a non-cooperating jurisdiction but the effective taxation of income is less than 10%.
Effective taxation is calculated as the ratio of demonstrably paid tax of the CFC income and the economic outturn of the CFC.
The new Section 51h of the Income Tax Act sets the CFC rules for natural persons as a result of which the CFC’s profit shares (dividends) will be taxed at the moment of their potential claim by taxpayers (natural persons) and not when they are paid. Such assigned dividends that have not yet been paid are taxed through a special tax base with a 25% or 35% (CFC from a non-cooperating jurisdiction) tax rate. The situations of direct and indirect participation in the CFC, as well as the tax credit, are regulated separately.
The aforementioned procedure does not apply if:
- the total amount of income attributable from the CFC does not exceed EUR 100 000,
- the share in the foreign entity is included in the corporate tax base (if, for example, a Slovak natural person is a person dependent on a Slovak legal person, where both own a share in the CFC),
the CFC is a taxpayer from an EU Member State or from a country that is a contracting party to the EEA (European Economic Area) Agreement and the taxpayer can prove that the company’s income actually resulted from the business activities in said country and the taxpayer can support the statement by the real existence of the company premises, the employee’s activities, material equipment, etc. This exemption does not apply to CFCs from a non-cooperating
Announcement of the amount and maturity of income tax advances in effect from 1 January 2022
From 2022, the tax administrator will inform all taxpayers who have submitted their income tax returns of the amount and maturity of income tax advances no later than 5 days prior to the due date of advances (Section 42(13) of the Income Tax Act).