Slovakia Urged To Redouble Efforts Against Tax Evasion
Slovakia should tackle value-added tax and corporate tax evasion, the International Monetary Fund has said.
In its annual report for the country, the Fund said that measures to target tax fraud and non-compliance have reduced the VAT gap – the amount lost compared with the theoretical maximum were the headline rate levied and collected on all taxable activities.
However, evasion and avoidance remains high, particularly in the construction, trade, and transportation sectors, it said.
The IMF said the establishment of a well-defined corporate income tax base and targeting compliance efforts on the economic sectors with the highest evasion rates would support the authorities’ efforts to balance the budget by 2019.
Concluding, the Fund said there is scope for additional revenues (of up to two percent of GDP) from reforms to: residential property tax, which is levied on surface area as opposed to market valuation; capital gains tax, which is set to zero for any transaction made after five years of ownership, including the sale of bequeathed properties; and environmental taxes, as Slovakia has the third-lowest tax collections in this area in the EU.
