Tax revenues for the state budget reached €20.66 billion by the end of 2025, up by €2.3 billion when compared to 2024, said Financial Administration (FS) spokesperson Daniel Kováč on Wednesday. He added that the increase was driven not only by a higher level of tax collected, but also greater efficiency, strengthened control mechanisms and measures aimed at curbing tax evasion and fraud.
According to him, value-added tax (VAT) and corporate tax saw the biggest rises last year. The level of both real and nominal tax revenues collected has been growing steadily over the past two years.
"This trend confirms that FS is able to secure state revenues effectively even amidst changing economic conditions," said FS President Jozef Kiss, recalling that the amount of tax collected reached €12.3 billion in 2019, €17.4 billion in 2023, and €20.66 billion last year.
As regards combating tax fraud, FS reported a continuing positive trend, particularly regarding VAT, with the volume of identified VAT carousel fraud falling by 91 percent since 2015. This has contributed to lower tax evasion and more stable VAT collection.
"The favourable situation was confirmed by the trend in the tax gap, which is estimated at below 10 percent," specified Kováč, adding that the effectiveness of completed tax audits reached 82.2 percent.
According to him, FS expects further improvements in tax collection efficiency from measures approved in the Action Plan for Combating Tax Fraud. Some of these have already passed the legislative process, such as lowering the limits for cash payments or introducing QR payments, while electronic invoices and other measures aimed at increasing transparency and curbing tax evasion are yet to be put in place.
"All measures have been consulted with representatives of the business sector in order to set them up in a way that supports a fair business environment and increases the efficiency of tax collection without imposing excessive administrative burdens," added Kováč.
Source: TASR
