German and Austrian firms belong to biggest taxpayers in Slovakia

The biggest German and Austrian firms paid 26 percent of income and corporate taxes in Slovakia in 2015.

(Source: TASR )

German and Austrian companies not only have invested in Slovakia billions of euros, they also pay significant corporate and income taxes here. This is one of findings of the tax and audit advisory company BMB Leitner which looked more closely at corporate, income and payroll taxes the biggest companies paid in Slovakia in 2015. Renáta Bláhová, partner of BMB Leitner and the author of the study, presented the results of the analysis at a press conference on May 16 attended also by representatives of the Slovak-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Slovak-Austrian Chamber of Commerce.

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“Germany and Austria made up the strongest group among foreign investors with the biggest share of paid [direct] taxes,” said Bláhová.

BMB Leitner analysed the 200 biggest non-financial companies listed in the TOP 200 list compiled by the Trend economic weekly plus the biggest financial enterprises in Slovakia.

The analysis was based on the principle Ultimate Parent Company. This means that the affiliation of a subsidiary in Slovakia was assessed based on the real seat of the parent company and not on its formally registered seat.

Based on the above, the share of Slovak companies of income and corporate taxes paid by the given group of companies in 2015 was 17 percent or €417.91 million. Germany followed with 16 percent (€395 million) and Austria with 10 percent (€249.4 million). South Korea followed third with 6 percent (€137.8 million). Italy, USA and the Czech Republic contributed each 5 percent. They were followed by France with 4 percent and Cyprus with 3 percent.

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The tax advisory company also looked not only on income and corporate taxes paid by these companies but also on income taxes paid by their employees and payroll taxes paid by employers and employees.

BMB Leitner also calculated that Slovak companies paid €892.15 million in total in corporate, income and payroll taxes in 2015. German companies followed with €818.48 million and Austrian companies with €447.4 million.

Germany and Austria are, based on the Ultimate Parent Company principle, not only the biggest foreign taxpayers in Slovakia, but also the biggest foreign investors. German companies invested an aggregate €7.5 billion by the end of 2015, based on the German Central Bank, informed Markus Halt, spokesperson of the Slovak-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SNOPK). This is three times more than data of the National Bank of Slovakia indicates, which assesses the origin of investments according to the formal seats of the parent companies. In the case of Austrian investments in Slovakia, the Austrian Central Bank puts them at an aggregate €5.9 billion based on the Ultimate Parent Company principle.

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