Finances and Advisory - page 5 - The Slovak Spectator

Slovakia records foreign trade surplus of €3.303 bn

TOTAL exports reached €5.099 billion in December, representing an increase of 6.5 percent year-on-year, while imports rose by 7.5 percent to €5.165 billion, Slovakia’s Statistics Office stated in a detailed report on March 10.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Tax Freedom Day falls on May 28 this year

Slovaks needed to work three days longer to fulfil their tax duties than last year.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Conditions for lending companies change

Tightened regulation may push low-income clients into a grey zone.

Jana Liptáková

Best corporate taxpayers awarded

The company that paid the highest corporate tax for selected tax subjects was Kia Motors Slovakia.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Changes are meant to target tax dodgers

Lawyers critical of rules that kicked in at turn of year.

Peter Adamovsky

Provident Financial leaves Slovakia, due to new law

THE NON-BANKING institution Provident Financial, one of the most important lending companies in Slovakia, has announced it will no longer lend money there.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Purchasing a new apartment in Slovakia requires an average of 14 gross annual salaries.

Property tax influenced by elections

THE YEAR of 2016 has not brought any significant increase in real estate tax, or property tax, in Slovakia even though its rates traditionally change upwards one year after the municipal elections.

Compiled by Spectator staff

A lot of Slovaks still fill in tax returns in print form.

Slovaks reluctant to use e-tax returns

FILING a tax return can be – instead of a lengthy and tedious procedure – an easy action without queuing at post offices or filling in forms by hand.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Following the Váhostav scandal, some laws for construction firms changed.

Tax system grows more complicated

Revisions seem good, but also raise new issues.

Radka Minarechová

Cheap mortgages already increase prices of apartments.

Re-financing boom will intensify

A new law is set to boost interest in re-financing old mortgages.

Jana Liptáková

Firms can transfer VAT tax duty

SINCE the beginning of 2016, the duty to pay value-added tax (VAT) is transferred from contractors to customers of construction works.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Bank clients can have accounts for no monthly fee.

Bank fees targeted again

Free and €3 bank accounts part of the second social package.

Jana Liptáková

Slovak Trade and Industry Chamber (SOPK) chair Peter Mihók

Mihók: Slovak Economy in Good Shape in 2016

AT THE DAWN of 2016, the Slovak economy seems to be in good condition both in terms of public finances and basic macroeconomic parameters, according to Slovak Trade and Industry Chamber (SOPK) chair Peter Mihók.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Household debt increases and spawns risks

THE VOLUME of loans provided to households grew by 13 percent on a year-on-year basis in the first three quarters of 2015.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Central bank reveals deficiencies in non-banking firms

NON-BANKING companies active in Slovakia violate several rules when they offer loans to clients.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Total tax burden includes also compulsory car liability insurance.

Slovaks earn for themselves since August 10

SLOVAK working people started to earn for themselves, instead of for the state – in the form of taxes – from August 10 on.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Availability of virtual cash registers

FROM January 1, 2016, more than 150,000 businesspeople with an electronic cash register will be able to use a new system of the virtual cash register (VRP).

Compiled by Spectator staff

Financial Administration tax fraud roundup

TAX Cobra, the special unit formed to investigate tax-related crimes, detected three serious tax crime cases in the second quarter of 2015; in one of them, a Financial Administration official was directly involved who is now evading police.

Compiled by Spectator staff