The newest change in the VAT Act will have an impact on all companies which are value added tax payers. Registered VAT payers will be obliged to notify all their business bank accounts (domestic and foreign) to the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic by 30^th November 2021 (Tuesday) if they use these bank accounts for business that is subject to VAT.

The amendment to the Act on Tax Administration approved on 27^th October 2021 amends, among other laws, the VAT Act. One of the amended amendments to the VAT Act is the introduction of a new provision of Article 6, which introduces a special notification obligation for VAT payers. The VAT payer is obliged to notify the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic of any own account kept with the payment service provider or with the foreign payment service provider that he will use for business subject to VAT. If a VAT payer wants to use also another bank account for a business that is subject to VAT, he is obliged to notify this account to the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic. The VAT payer is obliged to notify the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic of any change, addition or cancellation concerning the notified bank account, without delay.

Deadlines for the bank account number notification

• until 30 November 2021, in case of taxable persons already registered as VAT payers as at 15 November 2021 (within the meaning of the transitional provision of Art. 85kk to amend the VAT Act effective from 15 November 2021);
• immediately from the date on which the taxable person became a VAT payer (after 15 November 2021);
• immediately from the date on which the VAT payer opened such bank account (after 15 November 2021);
• before the VAT payer becomes using a bank account other than the one already notified for the business subject to VAT;
• immediately from the date on which any change, addition or cancellation concerning the notified bank account occurs.

Bank account notification forms

The notification of bank accounts shall be submitted by the VAT payer on a form, the template of which shall be designated and published by the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic at its website, via an electronic filing system.

Since the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic already disposes of the business bank account numbers provided by the affected payment service providers in the Slovak Republic, the VAT payers will be provided with the pre-filled form with a list of all known bank account numbers. The VAT payer will then choose specific bank accounts to fulfill the special notification obligation, or supplement other bank account numbers of which the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic is not aware (e.g., bank accounts maintained abroad).

With the effect from 1^st January 2022, the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic will publish a list of bank accounts notified by VAT payers on its website, which will be updated regularly.

Bank accounts belonging to another person or entity

If a VAT payer notifies the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic of an account held with a payment service provider or with a foreign payment service provider that belongs to another person or entity, this account shall be considered a bank account for the purposes of this Act. The VAT payer is at the same time obliged to notify the name and surname or the business name or the name of the person to whom this bank account belongs. The person to whom this bank account belongs is jointly and severally liable for the tax on the supply of goods or services stated on the invoice in case the supplier did not pay this tax or part thereof within the due date and the consideration for this performance or part thereof was paid to this bank account.

VAT Guarantee

The VAT Act stipulates the institute, on the basis of which the VAT payer in the position of a customer provides the guarantee for VAT paid on the supply of goods or services by the supplier. The VAT Guarantee Institute plays a role if the supplier has not paid the VAT to the Tax Authority and the customer was aware at the time the tax liability arose that the supplier would not pay the VAT on the goods or services supplied.

One of the reasons the customer (VAT payer) will be liable for the payment of VAT by the supplier (VAT payer) will also be the situation when the customer pays for the delivered goods or services to the supplier’s bank account other than stated in the list of bank accounts.

The VAT guarantee will be also applicable in case the payment for the delivered goods or services is paid to the bank account published within the list of bank accounts, however, the bank account does not belong to the supplier. On the contrary, the VAT guarantee will not be applicable if the consideration is paid to a bank account belonging to another person, but the supplier notified this account to the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic and declared it his own.

The purpose of the VAT guarantee is to motivate the customers (VAT payers) to pay invoices only to those bank account numbers that were notified to the Tax Authority.

Penalties

If the VAT payer provides incorrect, false, or incomplete information in the aforementioned form, the Tax Authority will impose a penalty of up to EUR 10,000 on the VAT payer. Tax Authority shall take into account the severity and duration of the law infringement when determining the amount of the imposed penalty. If the payer does not notify the Tax Authority of the bank account he uses for business or files the notification late without the reasons, this fact is considered as a non-fulfillment of a non-monetary obligation, for which the Tax Authority imposes a penalty of EUR 30 to EUR 3,000.