Major legislative changes for businesses in 2014.
Major legislative changes for businesses in 2014.
Businesses
Significant changes in the law from January 2014 stem from changes to income tax and VAT.
A novelty is the so-called tax licence that requires legal persons to pay a minimum tax. Legal persons will also have to pay tax if they achieve a tax loss in a tax assessment period. The lowest tax license is EUR 480. The tax license for VAT payers is EUR 960. If a legal person achieves a turnover of more than EUR 500 000, the amount of minimal tax liability is EUR 2 880.
Under the new regulation, businesses can amortize tax losses over a maximum of 4 years. This means that a maximum 25 % of tax loss can be amortized in a tax assessment period.
An amendment to the income tax act lowers the tax rate for legal persons from 23% to 22%.
From 2014, VAT payers must file VAT ledger statements. A VAT ledger statement must include all data on tax liability and tax deductions for each tax assessment period. The sanction for failure to file a VAT ledger statement is up to EUR 10 000.
An amendment to the health insurance act lowers the minimum assessment base for health insurance premiums from dividends from 120-times to 60-times the average monthly wage. The new limit can already be taken into account in the annual insurance statement for 2013.
Employers
1 January 2014 saw the introduction of changes to the law on collective bargaining which enables extension of binding higher-grade collective agreements within a specific industry to employers without their consent. You can find more information on the amendment of the Collective Bargaining Act here
An amendment to the act on safety and health protection at work regulates conditions for recreational stays. The length of working time which entitles an employee to a recreational stay is shortened. This means that employers will have to ensure recreational stays for employees more often. You can find more information on the amendment of the Collective Bargaining Act here
Personal Data Protection
Data controllers should not have forgotten to ensure that all their information systems for personal data processing comply with the new act on personal data protection by the end of 2013. This may concern mainly information systems which did not have to be registered before. The same deadline applies to data controllers and data processors to instruct authorized persons under the new act. You can find more information about the new Personal Data Protection Act here
Source: Act No. 595/2003 Coll., Income Tax Act
Act No. 222/2004 Coll., VAT Act
Act No. 124/2006 Coll., Act on Safety and Protection of Health at Work
Act No. 2/1991 Coll., Collective Bargaining Act
Act No. 580/2004 Coll., Health Insurance Act
Act No. 122/2013 Coll., Act on Personal Data Protection
Contact in Bratislava
Mgr. Pavol Benčo
Phone: +421 2 57880088