Tradesmen and small companies with turnover not exceeding €100,000 shouldn't have to pay the transaction tax as of this October, as Parliament moved a draft amendment to the law on the financial transaction tax, sponsored by a group of Slovak National Party (SNS) MPs, to its second reading on Tuesday.
The draft was backed by 146 of the 147 MPs present for the vote.
The opposition had long supported SNS’s draft, but there was no consensus about the issue within the coalition. The coalition Smer-SD, Hlas-SD and SNS parties finally reached an agreement on the issue on Monday (2 June). They agreed to narrow the scope of the transaction tax, and they intend to compensate for the shortfall in the 2025 stage budget by lowering the number of public holidays. November 17, the Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy, will thus no longer be a public holiday.
"The aim of the draft legislation is to adjust the scope of entities that are taxpayers under the law on the financial transaction tax due to the need to ensure that this tax is applied in a fairer, more economical and more bearable way in terms of red tape," explained its submitters.
The submitters estimate that the annual shortfall in the state budget as a result of the amendment will range between €35-50 million. "Taking into account that the total annual revenue from the financial transaction tax should exceed several hundred million euros, this is a marginal intervention from the fiscal viewpoint," they said.
The Finance Ministry disagreed with the draft in the past, envisaging the shortfall in tax revenues at €44 million this year and at €175 million as of next year.
According to the Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) the scrapping of public holidays will also remove bonuses for working on these days from employees' payroll slips, adding that employees will thus work for a standard average salary and their incomes will decrease.
According to KOZ, Slovakia is a country of long work shifts and low salaries. As many as 11.2 percent of people work at night. Of the total employed population, 15.8 percent work on Saturdays, 12.2 percent on Sundays and 23.3 percent of employees work in shifts. Slovaks work 39.6 hours per week on average, while the EU average is 37.1 hours.
The trade unions stated that, compared to other European countries, Slovakia still lags behind in productivity and average salaries, which means that many people have to work longer, often at non-standard times. They view this situation as unsustainable in the long run, as it threatens the health and quality of life of employees. Instead of increasing the workload, the state should focus on sustainable solutions that will improve working conditions and productivity and make the country more competitive, stressed KOZ.
If approved by Parliament, the amendment should take effect as of October 15, 2025.
Source: TASR
