Slovakia e-invoice proposal

Slovakia has published legal proposals to require B2B government pre-apprroved electronic invoicing. This would extend to B2C invoices if not already issued by VAT cash registers. The draft law envisages the pre-approval of sales invoices by the government by upload to a tax portal for registration. Only then could a vendor issue the customer with a valid VAT invoice. Customers would also have to report their purchase invoices for matching with the sales invoice.

To submit invoice data, taxpayers would need to use certified accounting software will a direct internet link for invoice detail submission. Small businesses may use a free invoice registration portal provided by the tax authorities.

Slovakia is introducing e-invoices to help combat VAT fraud. The EU’s VAT Gap analysis – which estimates the difference between forecast VAT revenues versus actual receipts – puts the Slovak deficit at 20.4% (€1.6 billion per annum) - an increase on prior years. The EU member state median is 9.2%.

Slovakia is following the path of Italian SdI e-invoice, which achieved impressive results in reducing the country's VAT gap by over €4 billion per annum. The EU's Tax Package includes a review to harmonise live transaction reporting, including potentially standard e-invoice regime across the 27 member states.