E-invoicing in Slovakia has been a reality since the introduction of draft Act No. 215/2019 Coll on secured e-invoicing and the central economic system, which transposes Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council. This was introduced in Parliament in April 2019.
From January 2022 onwards, only certain B2G transactions exceeding €5,000 are required to utilise e-invoicing via IS EFA.
B2G e-invoicing in Slovakia will have three phases:
- Phase I. Contracting entities must receive e-invoices and can send e-invoices to suppliers.
- Phase II. E-invoices must be received by public authorities and public procuring entities. Once Stage II is complete, e-invoicing will be used in public procurement.
- Phase III. All contracting authorities, contracting entities and their suppliers must receive and send e-invoices. These will be automatically processed and communicated between systems.
The Ministry of Finance and Datacentrum, along with their suppliers, Budgetary Organisations for the Ministry, including the Financial Administration, and other government and public administration entities were expected to e-invoice by the first quarter of 2024. However, none of the three stages have been implemented yet.
However, it is thought that it will be finished by the end of the year, as there has been a further delay.
What is the current status of B2B e-invoicing in Slovakia?
The Slovak Ministry of Finance has set the objective of making e-invoicing mandatory in 2025, having previously postponed this to 2024. However, the use of e-invoicing has been optional since 2023. Invoices pertaining to transactions with non-residents will be required to be reported separately. Furthermore, the possibility of implementing a prior authorisation system is being contemplated. This system would require taxpayers to submit their invoices to the tax authorities for verification and approval prior to their issuance.
Electronic invoicing in Slovakia
The objective of the Act is to mandate the issuance and acceptance of electronic invoices and to establish a novel information system within the domain of public procurement. In order to avoid confusion with the term 'e-invoice' as defined in the Value Added Tax Act, the Act refers to e-invoicing as 'secured e-invoicing'.
The legislation pertaining to secured e-invoicing and the central economic system came into force on 1 August 2019. Article 3 of this legislation delineates the scope of entities that are required to issue and receive e-invoices:
- Contractors and subcontractors in organisations with budgets.
- Contractors and subcontractors in concession contracts.
They have to accept electronic invoices:
- Customers of state-funded organisations must accept electronic invoices.
- Purchasers of services from contracting authorities or entities must also accept e-invoices.
- Any person acting as a contracting authority must accept e-invoices.
In February 2021, the Slovak Ministry of finance proposed a new law to send invoice data to the Financial Administration in real time. This will become mandatory for all commercial transactions (including B2B) according to the IS EFA platform.
Tax reporting in Slovakia and the eKasa project
Slovakia has introduced a single rate system for personal and corporate taxes. They have also made personal income tax simpler and less progressive by reducing the number of brackets and rates.
eKasa is a system that sends data to the Slovak tax administration in real time. This is so that the seller can identify the buyer.
E-invoicing model in Slovakia
The main objective of the implementation of the centralised solution is to ensure the mandatory receipt and sending of e-invoices and to enable their automatic processing in accordance with the European e-invoicing standard.
The entities participating in the e-invoicing system will receive their profiles in the online invoicing system, which will also be linked to the existing official e-mail system (slovensko.sk).
In all cases, in order to issue secured e-invoices, it is planned to make available to taxpayers a system for e-invoicing with public administrations on their website. All data must be stored in the system for 5 years.
The IS EFA e-invoicing solution will provide support for public finance and cash flow management, budgeting and reporting in addition to its core functionality.
The Slovak Ministry of Finance (MoF) is moving ahead with the e-invoicing initiative, informačný systém elektronickej fakturácie. The proposed e-invoicing system would support both issuing and receiving e-invoices for domestic transactions and help foreign suppliers create structured invoices that can be sent by e-mail. The system would use UBL 2.1 along with an XML format and aims to reduce the compliance burden and increase transparency.
The Ministry of Finance also launched a new website containing information on the e-invoicing initiative, as well as a demonstration system that is open to all to test and improve before its live implementation.
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