As of 2013, a new financial authority should start issuing so-called binding statements – a service aimed largely at business entities – addressing complicated or more difficult tax cases, Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš said at a news conference on Tuesday, May 31.
The statements won't be free of charge, with each costing €2,000, but will be binding on all existing tax administration offices. Tax authorities are currently issuing similar (but simpler) statements, doing so free of charge. However, these serve only as common advice and are not binding. Moreover, they often differ. There are around 18,500 pieces of such advice issued every year. Mikloš admitted that the proposed fee of €2,000 has been set quite high, but said this was due to the nature of the new type of statement, which is not a routine interpretation of tax legislation.
The introduction of a new financial authority to issue so-called binding statements could contribute significantly to the improvement of the Slovak business environment in terms of transparency and reduced corruption, Slovak Trade and Industry Chamber (SOPK) chairman Peter Mihók said, as reported by the TASR newswire. SOPK sees the Finance Ministry's proposal to establish a unified system of legislation interpretation concerning the tax and deduction obligations in a positive light and recommends that the government extend the powers of the new institution to legal regulations in more areas, where different interpretations of legislation in practice exist.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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