Operator’s duties

Under Section 21 (2) of Act No. 355/2007 Coll. on Protection, Support and Development of Public Health, and on Amendment and Supplementation of Certain Acts, accommodation facilities should meet requirements for internal environment, layout, functional arrangement, equipment and for the operation of accommodation facilities prescribed by the executive regulation. The executive regulation is Regulation of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic No. 259/2008 Coll. on Details of Requirements for the Internal Environment of Buildings and on Minimum Requirements for Apartments of Lower Standard and Accommodation Facilities, which contains specific requirements for the room equipment, lighting, cleaning of accommodation facilities, and other appurtenances to be followed.

Taxes and levies at the operation of accommodation facilities

Use of e-kasa client cash registers

Renting a real estate versus entrepreneurship in relation to the trends in the field of accommodation

Licence to perform activities of sports professionals as a business

If you meet requirements of the definition of a sports professional, still you may not start your sports business unless you have obtained a licence; to obtain it, you have to fill up:

1. the application for registration in the list of sports professionals in the form of an electronic form and to submit other documents (certificate of professional competence – such as a photocopy of your diploma + statutory declaration of impeccability). A detailed procedure of how to fill up the electronic form can be found on the Ministry’s web page www.ziadosti-sport.iedu.sk.
2. the application for registration of your business licence – i.e. submitting the data under Section 6 (4) of Sports Act. The application for registration of your business licence may also be filed through the district office acting as the point of single contact or sent to the respective address of the Ministry. A detailed procedure of how to fill up the Excel form can be found at the Ministry’s website.

Proving of professional competence

Duties of sports professionals running sports businesses against the tax office and insurance companies

Suspensions and terminations of businesses run by sports professionals

2. Warranty terms and conditions

Warranty terms and conditions represent another obligatory appurtenance to be met, when operating e-shops. Conditions stated therein shall not exceed legal requirements and limit buyers’ rights. Warranty-related rules can be arranged in detail in separate warranty terms and conditions or can be included in your commercial terms and conditions.

What information must consumers be able to find in warranty terms and conditions?

3. Protection of privacy

When starting your e-shop, you should not forget the last condition, i.e. protection of privacy.  The declaration of protection of personal data should be published on your website. Not the literal wording, but contents of such declaration – how do you handle personal data of clients, what other parties (such as carriers for purposes of transporting the goods to clients) are they available for, and how will you handle them at their disposal – are specified by the law. The information shall be provided in a brief, transparent, comprehensible, and easily accessible form and it shall be formulated in a clear and simple manner.

Personal data processing principles

The sum of employer’s contribution to the employee’s holidays

Under the law, employers are obliged to contribute to their employees’ holidays in the sum of 55% of respective costs, but not more than EUR 275 for the calendar year. Indeed, full-time employees will receive the maximum sum only. Employers shall contribute to half-time employees’ holidays in the maximum sum of EUR 137.50 per calendar year.

Under the new regulation, the aforementioned duty should be applicable to all employers, i.e. also to at least 142,000 micro and small enterprises that were exempted from such duty under the act saying that the limiting number of employees is 49 and more; such enterprises thus could, but were not obliged to provide their employees holiday contributions. Upon the data of the Register of Organizations, there are 723,496 employees employed in micro and small enterprises including natural persons – entrepreneurs.

As resulting from the survey performed by Profesia, s. r. o. on the sample of 10,450 Slovak citizens at the beginning of 2018, 46.10% of respondents are employed at their employers for longer than 24 months. Although representativeness of the sample was not verified, we can use this per cent value for our purposes due to the lack of official data as the estimate of real share of working people employed at their employers for longer than 24 months. The estimated number of employees entitled to holiday contributions thus represents approximately 333,532 persons.

Starting with 2019, the duty of submitting disclosures of criminal records to public authorities for proving one’s impeccability is cancelled. This change is based on a general clause in E-Government Act, under which it would be unnecessary to prove some facts to the public authorities, if such authorities would have been able to check those facts through information systems of public administration or if they are aware of the facts from their activities.

2. Reduction of VAT rate for accommodation services from 20 % to 10 %

The reduction of VAT rate to 10% for every type of accommodation service is particularly aimed at the supposed increase of the demand for accommodation services in the territory of Slovakia and the associated development of tourism.

Accommodation services include:

a) hotels and similar accommodation services,
b) hiking and other short-term accommodation services,
c) operation of recreational and holiday camps
d) other accommodation services (accommodation services in halls of residence, services in the rooms or accommodation units in hostels for workers, and others).

3. Increasing motivation of small employers to enter the dual education system

In order to make the dual education more attractive, a contribution for employers to compensate a part of their costs for implementation of the dual education shall be implemented in the sum of EUR 300 or 700 per student for large enterprises and up to EUR 1,000 per student for small and medium-sized enterprises for each student with the learning contract concluded in the year when practical education started to be provided.

As for the employers, the administrative burden has been significantly reduced by removing deadlines for submitting applications for verification of competence, replacing the documents to be submitted by statutory declarations as well as removing the duty of passing another verification of competence due to the increased number of students in the system of dual education.

At the same time, the share of practical education performed at another employer has increased; SMEs, which have no own capacities for meeting material, technical, spatial, and personnel requirements for performing practical education, will benefit from this in particular. Model education plans and curricula are deleted from the act and replaced by school education programmes to be elaborated in cooperation between secondary vocational schools and employers.

4. Cancelling the duty of paying security for VAT

It is not only that the duty of entrepreneurs to pay security for the tax has been cancelled but all the decisions regarding payments of securities for the tax issued before 31 December 2018, at which 12 months from the day of paying such security had not yet expired have been cancelled as well. The tax office shall pay financial securities, or their parts paid in cash back to the entities no later than by 28 February 2019 unless such security was used to compensate tax arrears or such arrears exist.

5. Lower tax rate on fuels

With the effective date until the end of 2019, the basic tax rate on fuels will be reduced as follows: petrol from the original sum of € 554/1,000 litres to the sum of € 547/1,000 litres and diesel from the original sum of € 394/1,000 litres to € 393/1,000 litres; then the value will be increased back to the value circa of the end of 2018.

6. One step ahead in computerization and debureaucratization of the Land Registry

There was a service of change monitoring started within the portal of the Land Registry, which informs the users automatically on every change to the monitored real estate occurred in the Land Registry. For example, the portal will notify you of changes to the seal identification, to entries and records performed, and to the notes recorded. A new output is available too – the list of real estates created to provide the owners or other persons entitled upon their rights to the real estates an overview of all real estates owned or managed by the given person.

7. Less complicated process of employing foreigners from third countries

Employing persons from third countries (i.e. from countries beyond EU, Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland) on the Slovak labour market will be facilitated in the form of temporary assignments through employment agencies under the condition that they run their business at least three years.

Employers will only be allowed to use this option for the events of temporary assignments for jobs listed in the list of jobs suffering from the lack of labour force in the districts with the registered unemployment rate lower than 5%.

The list of jobs suffering from the lack of labour force in such districts shall be updated on the website of the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the SR not only once a year as before, but once every quarter. The employees assigned from among foreigners from third countries will be included in the total number of employees that can be employed using the so-called fast-tracked procedure for labour shortage (not more than 30% of the total number of employees).

At the same time, the course of proceedings regarding residence of foreigners from third countries will be simplified, e.g. in the form of shortening deadlines for the assessment of applications for granting temporary residences for employment purposes from 90 to 30 days for labour shortage jobs or for employees of technological centres.

8. No duplicate payments of VAT ever more

The existing duplicate payments of VAT in some situations pointed out also by the podnikajte.sk portal using the absurd example of tea bought to the office have been cancelled. This applies to some exactly defined goods in retail stores such as agricultural crop and products made of iron and steel, when their buyers had to pay VAT twice.

9. Better conditions in the taxi service business

Changes to the taxi service business from 1 April 2019 respond to unequal conditions for the so-called licensed taxi drivers and drivers providing services for clients through mobile applications. Conditions for conventional taxi drivers have thus been simplified, but, at the same time, the adherence thereto will be monitored in a stricter manner.

Taxi service operators still need licences (they can get one for ten years after documenting their impeccability) and their cars shall be marked as taxi service to be controllable.

However, professional competence, financial reliability, as well as additional insurance are not required anymore. Neither the age of the driver (originally 21 years, now the driving licence is enough) nor the age of the vehicle shall be determined anymore; the vehicle can be either owned by the driver or the driver can have documented the right for its use. Taximeters will not be mandatory in taxis, if the transport price is agreed in advance.

10. Making the operation of massage and wellness centres or sports facilities less complicated

Whereas the current minimum wage is EUR 480, it will be   increased by EUR 40 to EUR 520 in 2019. The hourly rate of the minimum wage, which has been increased by EUR 0.23, i.e. from the current sum of EUR 2.759 to EUR 2.989, is important too even from the aspect of the minimum wage for particular levels of work difficulty, when the rate is to be multiplied by a respective coefficient.

If an employee applies a deductible item for the health insurance and the tax allowance, the net wage will increase from the current sum of EUR 403.18 to EUR 430.35, i.e. the increase is EUR 27.17. The statutory minimum wage is also applicable for agreement workers; statutory representatives receiving minimum wages for their work in the companies as well as employers employing persons who have currently not received the minimum wage but the wage within the range from the current to the planned minimum wages (i.e. within the range from EUR 480 to EUR 520) should be careful too, since such wages will have to be revised too.

In accordance with the SME Test elaborated in cooperation with the Slovak Ministry of Labour, costs of SMEs relating to the increased minimum wage will be up to EUR 51.1 million.

2. The second phase of increasing extra pays for works of employees in the night and in the weekends

With regard of the increase of the minimum wage relating to extra pays for works in the night and in the weekends, costs of entrepreneurs from 1 May 2019 will be even higher than those caused by the changes from 1 May 2018.

Now they will pay 50 % of the minimum hourly rate for every hour of the night work for risky employees (categories 3 & 4) (this is the last year when they pay 30 % of the minimum hourly rate); as for the so-called general employees (whose work has to be performed in the night as well – i.e. food and automotive industries), 40 % of the minimum hourly rate will be paid (35 %, if the derogation clause is applied, and this is the last year when 30 % of the minimum hourly rate is paid).

Along with the wage earned, employees will be entitled to extra pays in the sum of at least 50 % of the minimum hourly rate for works performed on Saturdays (this is the last year when 25 % of the minimum hourly rate is paid) and at least 100 % of the minimum hourly rate for works performed on Sundays (this is the last year when 50 % of the minimum hourly rate is paid).

The extra pay in the sum of 100 % of the employee’s average hourly rate for works performed on public holidays as applicable from 1 May 2018 will not be changed.

3. Special levy for retail chains in the sum of 2,5 % of net sales

Finally, a special levy in the sum of 2.5 % of net sales for the period of three consecutive calendar months will be paid by the retail chain:

• in which at least 25 % of the net sales are produced by selling food to final consumers,
• the operations of which are located in at least 15 % of all districts and the operations have similar design, common communication, and common marketing activities.

The exemption from paying the levy is applicable to SMEs in general as well as to company shops provided that the producer and the seller are the same person and to retail shops selling the only food line-up. Retail chains are obliged to submit written notifications regarding the sum of the levy to the tax office no later than by the end of the month following the period defined and to pay the levy by the same deadline.

If an entrepreneur fails to meet the duty, he/she may be liable to a penalty in the sum of 0.2 % of the sum of the last known operational and financial revenues for the previous accounting period (if the notification is not submitted) or 10 % of the unpaid sum, if the sum defined is not paid.

4. Mandatory employer´s contribution to the employee´s holidays in the territory of Slovakia

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A new mandatory extra pay provided by employers to employees in the form of a contribution to holidays has been established. It is applicable to employers with more than 49 employees (i.e. micro and small enterprises are exempted from the obligation) that are obliged to contribute to holidays of their employees in the territory of Slovakia in the sum of 55 % of the costs for such holidays, but not more than EUR 275 per calendar year.

The sum decided by the employer as the contribution for holidays includes neither the income tax nor mandatory payments both on the side of employer and employee. The employees employed by the employers longer than 24 months without any interruption will be allowed to ask for the contribution for holidays.

Employees will document eligible costs to their employers no later than by 30 days from the end of the holidays via submitting accounting documents and employers will provide their employees the contribution for holidays by the nearest payment date.

5. Extending the direct electronic connection between cash registers and financial administration

A mandatory on-line connection between cash registers and the central database of the financial administration has been established. In practice, it means that the financial administration will be informed of every purchase/transaction immediately, since every receipt issued will be registered in the eKasa central storage place.

The entrepreneurs that have currently used electronic cash registers for recording their sales might start to use eKasa from 1 April 2019, but the entrepreneurs that are obliged to record their sales on 1 April 2019 for the first time shall use eKasa from this date. And from 1 July 2019, eKasa will be mandatory for any and all entrepreneurs recording their sales by means of cash registers, since they accept cash at the place of sale and, at the same time, sell their goods or provide specific services.

So far, entrepreneurs were allowed to choose whether to connect to the systems of the financial administration (by means of virtual cash registers), but from now on, connection to the financial administration will be mandatory. Electronic cash registers will turn onto on-line cash registers (OCR or eKasa). However, entrepreneurs will have more options, since, along with the conventional ECRs, they will also be able to use tables, mobile phones, computers or VCRs. Nevertheless, they will have to modify their current cash registers or even to buy new ones.

As estimated by the Slovak Ministry of Finance, circa 80% cash registers will need modifications only with unit costs of circa EUR 80; the remaining 20% will have to be replace by new ones with the costs according to the Slovak Ministry of Finance of circa EUR 280 a piece. As calculated by the Ministry of Finance, entrepreneurs in Slovakia will thus pay for the implementation of eKasa circa EUR 28 million in total.

6. Taxation of virtual currencies

Taxation of virtual currencies or the so-called cryptocurrencies became effective on 1 October 2018. The income from sold virtual currencies is considered subject to taxation, which is not exempted from tax, i.e. it is considered a taxable income. Exchange of virtual currency for assets, exchange of virtual currency for another virtual currency, exchange of virtual currency for services provided or paid transfer of virtual currency are considered sales of virtual currency. New provisions of Income Tax Act will be applied even at filing tax returns after 30 September 2018.

7. Obligation of reporting every job vacancy

From 2019, employers shall report job vacancies and their characteristics to the Labour Office, in the territorial scope of which such job vacancies are included. Job vacancies can be reported personally to an employee – representative for job vacancies, via phone or e-mail or the Labour Office’s website by filling up the document “Report of Vacant Job Position”. Employers can also report job vacancies electronically via the portals istp.sk or profesia.sk or kariera.sk. Once published on the portals, the Labour Office will understand the obligation of reporting job vacancies as met. If an employer fails to meet the obligation, such employer can be penalized in the sum of up to EUR 300.

If a vacant job position reported by an employer is also appropriate for citizens of third countries, the same conditions will be applied with one exemption – employers reporting job vacancies electronically can use the istp.sk portal only.

8. Stricter conditions for employing foreigners

Starting with the next year, employers applying for permits to employ or for approving confirmations of a possibility to occupy a vacant job position shall meet two cumulative conditions – the ban of illegal employment must not be breached in the period of five years from filing the application (this period has been extended from original two years to five years) and job vacancies and their characteristics shall be reported to the Labour Office, in the territorial scope of which such job vacancies are included (at least 20 days prior to filing the application).

9. Annual change of levies for self-employed persons

The minimum basis of assessment to be used by self-employed persons as a basis for paying social insurance is defined as 50% of the average wage in Slovakia two years ago. Since the average wage in Slovakia in 2017 as calculated by the Slovak Statistical Office reached EUR 954, the minimum monthly basis of assessment for paying social insurance of self-employed persons for the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 will increase from EUR 456 to EUR 477.

The maximum basis of assessment is defined as seven times the monthly average wage and will be increased from EUR 6,284 to EUR 6,678 for the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019. The trade licence holders who were informed of their obligation to pay minimum or maximum sum of levies shall start to pay the new sum of monthly levies on 1 January 2019.

If a trade licence holder paid minimum levies in the sum of EUR 151.16 from 1 July 2018, from now on he/she should pay the levies in the minimum sum of EUR 158.11, which represented the increase by EUR 6.95. If a trade licence holder paid maximum levies in the sum of EUR 2,116.29 from 1 July 2018, from 1 January 2019 he/she should pay the levies in the maximum sum of EUR 2,213.75, which represented the increase by EUR 97.46.

10. New retroactive tax from non-life insurance