VAT Registration for a Foreign Company in Slovakia

Foreign companies can register for VAT in Slovakia under several types of registration, primarily the special VAT registration for foreign persons.

VAT registration is available not only to entities from EU member states, such as England, but also to companies from the USA, Hong Kong and offshore jurisdictions.

Where a foreign company (a taxable person) that has no registered office, place of business, establishment or residence in Slovakia, and does not usually stay there, begins taxable activity in Slovakia, it must apply for VAT registration with Tax Office Bratislava I before commencing that activity. A foreign person’s activities subject to VAT are: (i) the supply of goods for consideration in Slovakia by a taxable person acting as such, (ii) the supply of services for consideration in Slovakia by a taxable person acting as such, (iii) the acquisition of goods for consideration in Slovakia from another EU member state, and (iv) the import of goods into Slovakia.

The foreign company becomes a VAT payer on the date its VAT registration certificate is issued, in which the tax office assigns it a VAT identification number.

A foreign company with a branch in Slovakia may also use the VAT registration options available to domestic entities, either voluntarily or because its turnover from end customers makes registration compulsory. Every foreign individual or company established in Slovakia (i.e. with a branch there) must register for VAT if it is a taxable person (carrying out economic activity within the meaning of the VAT Act) and its turnover reaches €49,790 over the preceding 12 consecutive calendar months. For voluntary VAT registration of foreign companies with a branch in Slovakia, no minimum turnover is required. When a foreign company with a branch in Slovakia applies for voluntary VAT registration, the key question is whether the applicant is a taxable person carrying out economic activity, which it must be able to demonstrate with credible evidence.

The tax office assesses each application individually, taking account of the applicant’s activities. In addition to completing the application correctly, you must submit all the required documents, such as an extract from the companies register (with an apostille for a foreign entity), a power of attorney and other mandatory papers. Where these documents originate abroad, the tax office may require them to be apostilled. In some cases, it may also ask the applicant to lodge a security deposit. Only once everything has been submitted can the foreign applicant be issued with a VAT registration certificate and assigned a VAT identification number. The applicant becomes a VAT payer on the date stated in the certificate.

The VAT registration process takes 5–6 weeks.

For a foreign applicant, the process is more complicated than for a domestic one, both in terms of the documents required and in dealings with the tax office itself. We provide all our clients with full handling of the entire registration, including all paperwork and direct communication with the tax office.

Following registration, we offer comprehensive accounting and tax advice, starting from EUR 50 per tax return.