The Motor Vehicle Tax Act has been amended effective 1 January 2020 based on amendment of Act No. 106/2018 Coll. on the Operation of Vehicles and Road Traffic.

Several changes came into effect in January that clarify Act No. 361/2014 Coll. on Motor Vehicle Tax. These changes affect all entrepreneurs who incur a tax liability with respect to their use of a vehicle for business purposes in the tax period beginning on 1 January 2020 and subsequently. These changes primarily involve the following:

1. Clarification of the term “use of a vehicle for business purposes”

The term use of a vehicle for business purposes” under §2 (1) has been clarified since the New Year. Under the updated legislation, a vehicle is considered to be used for business purposes if any of the following conditions are met effective 1 January 2020:

actual use of a vehicle for business purposes,
accounting¹²⁾ concerning a vehicle,
registration of a vehicle in tax records,13)
recognition of expenditures associated with use of a vehicle, or
use of a vehicle for business purposes by a taxpayer under §3 (c) to (e):
1. the use of such vehicle for which a person who has died or an entity that has been cancelled or dissolved is shown as the holder of the vehicle,
2. the use of a vehicle for which a person who does not use the vehicle for business purposes is shown as the holder of the vehicle, or
3. the use of a vehicle for business purposes by an employee if their employer reimburses them for travel costs for the use of a vehicle that is not used for business purposes.

Under such provision, a vehicle may become subject to tax prior to “actual use”, for instance the moment it is classified as an asset.

2. Vehicles associated special registration numbers containing the following letters are no longer subject to motor vehicle tax effective 1 January 2020:

M – newly manufactured vehicles, newly purchased and unregistered vehicles, vehicles used for test drives,
H – historical vehicles certified by the FIVA (international organisation of historical vehicles)
S – sports vehicles with an FIA or FIM license intended exclusively for sporting purposes

Those vehicles designed to perform special activities that are not designated for carriage and that are indicated as special vehicles in their registration certificates remain exempt from this tax.

3. Changes regarding establishment and termination of tax liability:

Elimination of duplicate taxation of a single taxable asset in a given calendar year for a single taxpayer – if a taxpayer’s tax liability is established and expires in the same month, the establishment and expiry of the tax liability is defined as follows:

“a tax liability expires on the last day of the month in which facts conditioning expiry of the tax liability occur and a tax liability is established on the first day of the month following the month in which the facts conditioning the establishment of the tax liability occur”.

Tax liability expiry is expended to include theft of a vehicle – the tax liability expires on the final day of the month in which the theft of the vehicle is confirmed by police authorities.
Form to report tax liability expiry – effective 1 January it is no longer possible to comply with the duty to inform by filing a tax return or otherwise specify such fact in a filed tax return. “Taxpayers shall give notice of expiry of a tax liability using the template form provided by the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic and published on its website”.

4. Changes related to tax period and tax returns

Abbreviated tax periods are extended effective 1 January 2020 to cover taxpayers whose business activities have ended as well as those who have suspended their activities. The amendment of the motor vehicle tax act permits entrepreneurs whose business activities are suspended during the calendar year to file their tax returns early. The tax period for such taxpayer ends on the last day of the month in which it suspends business activities. The tax return is filed within one month from the end of this tax period.

Based on the amended legislation, the tax period in the event of the death of a taxpayer ends on the final day of the month in which the taxpayer died. It previously ended upon the death of the taxpayer under legislation in force until 31 December 2019.

5. A proportional part of tax is due upon violation of tax exemption conditions

6. A minimum tax threshold is set at EUR 5 and no tax as calculated on the tax return is due if less than EUR 5.

Motor vehicle tax returns for 2019

The Financial Administration has pre-filled motor vehicle tax returns since 2017. This benefit requires the activation of an electronic mailbox and the filing of a tax return for the 2018 tax year.

For more information, see: https://www.financnasprava.sk/sk/pre-media/novinky/archiv-noviniek/detail-novinky/_dp-k-dzmv-ts/bc

Filing deadline for tax returns – by the end of the month following the end of the tax period: until 31 January 2020.

Annual tax rate (specified in Annex 1 to Act No. 361/2014 Coll. on Motor Vehicle Tax) – stipulated by vehicle age (since first registration).

Vehicle age	Motor vehicle tax rate
1 to 3 years (first 36 calendar months)	annual tax rate reduced by 25%
3 to 6 years (36 to 72 calendar months)	annual tax rate reduced by 20%
6 to 9 years (72 to 108 calendar months)	annual tax rate reduced by 15%
9 to 12 years (108 to 144 calendar months)	no change
12 to 13 years (144 to 156 calendar months)	annual tax rate increased by 10%
more than 13 years (more than 156 calendar months)	annual tax rate increased by 20%
For hybrid motor vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles; vehicles in categories L, M and N using compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen-based propulsion systems, the annual tax rate calculated using the previous procedure is set and then reduced by an additional 50%.

Advance tax payments – are calculated from the expected tax for 2020.

Amount of expected tax	Advance tax payments
Less than EUR 700	not applicable
Greater than EUR 700 and less than EUR 8,300	quarterly advance tax payments in the amount of 1/4 of the expected tax
Greater than EUR 8,300	monthly advance tax payments in the amount of 1/12 of the expected tax
The tax administrator may define the payment of advance tax payments upon its own decision or upon request from the taxpayer