Financial Transactions Tax Act was published in the Collection of Laws

Act on financial transactions tax will enter into force on 1 January 2025, the first taxation period being April 2025.

Taxpayer

• Legal entities and branches of foreign legal entities;
• Self-employed individuals and entrepreneurs.

Tax Collector

• Banks and other financial institutions seated or having a branch in Slovakia;
• Taxpayers themselves should they make payments from foreign bank accounts or transactions using non-business accounts or should the costs of carrying out a financial transaction related to their activities in Slovakia be recharged to them.

Taxable Transactions

The aim is to tax:

• Debit of funds from the account;
• Use of a payment card issued to a transaction account for payment;
• Recharged costs connected to a payment that relates to an activity performed in Slovakia.

This means that:

• This tax will apply to transactions conducted exclusively from the business bank accounts;
• Legal entities' accounts will automatically be considered transaction accounts;
• Entrepreneurs will be obliged to open a separate business account by 31 March 2025;
• Transaction on private (non-business) bank account will not be subject to this tax, provided these will not relate to business of the taxpayer.

Non-Taxable Transactions

Certain financial transactions will not be subject to this tax, including:

• Tax and social security contributions payments;
• Payments between the taxpayer's own accounts in the same bank;
• Transactions made using the payment card, except cash withdrawals;
• Operations related to purchase and management of securities and purchase of government bonds;
• Various other specific financial operations.

Rates

• Debit transactions: 0.4 %, capped at 40 € per transaction
• Cash withdrawals: 0.8 %
• Recharged costs: 0.4 %
• Payment card transactions: Fixed rate of 2 € per year for issued and used payment card

Tax Base

The amount of funds debited from the taxpayer's bank account or the amount of recharged costs for carrying out a financial transaction related to the taxpayer's activity in Slovakia.

Tax Period

• Calendar month for debit transactions, cash withdrawals, and recharged costs;
• Calendar year for use of payment card;
• First tax period will be April 2025; while it will be possible to remit tax for the first three tax periods, subject to further conditions, by 31 July 2025.

Tax Collector's Responsibility

• The tax will in general be collected by Slovak banks (including branches of foreign banks in Slovakia) that will also file announcement on amount of tax to the Tax Authorities;
• Taxpayers who will be also tax collectors, will be obliged to calculate and pay the tax by themselves to the Tax Authorities by the end of the calendar month following the tax period as well as to file the announcement on amount of tax to the Tax Authorities.

Records Keeping

Tax collectors must keep records for each tax period to ensure proper tax determination. These will contain:

• Identification of the taxpayer and tax collector;
• Transaction account numbers, sums of transaction, tax base, tax rate and amount of tax;
• Date of the first use of the payment card.

The records will be kept at least until the end of the period for the expiry of the right to levy tax according to tax administration, and there will be an obligation to submit them to the Tax Authorities upon request.