The country’s tax system could become Slovakia’s competitive advantage in the struggle for foreign investors, according to a poll carried out in May by tax consultancy BMB Leitner in co-operation with the American Business Chamber in Slovakia, Slovak-German Trade and Industrial Chamber and Slovak-Austrian Trade Chamber which was published on June 23, the TASR newswire.
Almost two-thirds of the 673 approached foreign investors labelled the tax system in Slovakia as burdensome or very burdensome. Most respondents believe the Slovak tax legislative is highly complicated; four-fifths think it is a result of insufficient rules of application and frequent changes.
From these investors’ point of view, the tax rate does not play a significant role. The poll shows that they still find reduction of the levy burden important, but they label a change in the qualitative parameters of the system as potentially the most beneficial, especially when it comes to improving the stability of tax legislation and reduction of administrative red tape.
“The companies that are investing in Slovakia need to be sure that their business plan, including the tax burden, will be relevant for a longer time than one year,” said Renáta Blahová from BMB Leitner for TASR.
In addition, the polled business representatives claim that Slovak tax offices are too bureaucratic. On the other hand, the positive sign is that 70 percent of the respondents do not view the tax offices as corrupt. They would also like to see electronisation of tax-related administration and they are strongly against increasing the number of bureaucrats in this sphere.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
