Legislative changes in taxes from 1 January 2026

September 2025 brought a number of changes in the area of taxes and levies, which will significantly affect business entities from 2026. We bring you a summary of these changes approved by the National Council of the Slovak Republic. These changes were also signed by the President on 8.10.2026 and will be valid after publication in the Collection of Laws.

1. Income tax 

• Changes for legal entities
  • Compensation in the event of sick leave is paid by the Social Insurance Agency only after 14 days, until then the employer pays the sick leave. Originally, the employer reimbursed sick leave for 10 days. If the employee's sick leave started before 1.4.2026 and continues after, the sick leave will be assessed according to the old provisions.
  • Deduction of investment expenses (costs) – the period for which an investment plan can be drawn up is extended from 6 to 9 years, while the last tax period is extended from 2027 to 2030.
  • Non-deductible VAT on the private use of a motor vehicle in the period from 1.1.2026 to 30.6.2028 is not a tax expense.
  • Minimum tax - The minimum income tax PO (tax license) for legal entities with taxable revenues above EUR 5 million has been added. From 2026, the minimum tax will be paid for PO for revenues as follows:

• Special changes for gambling - The income tax rate is increased to 54% for banks or branches of foreign banks, which earn from fees charged for payment operations made with a payment card, if the funds are directed to the player's account (e.g. an account in an online bookmaker or casino)

2. VAT

• Flat-rate deduction for motor vehicles in the amount of 50%
• Temporary introduction of a flat-rate 50% right to deduct VAT on the acquisition of a motor vehicle and its operation, if it is used for business and private purposes. The changes concern motor vehicles of category M1 (passenger cars) and L1e, L2e (motorcycles).
• The flat-rate VAT deduction will be applied if, in the period from 1.1.2026 to 30.6.2028:
  • procure the motor vehicle in question;
  • uses a leased motor vehicle (other than short-term rental up to 30 days) – this is a long-term lease, financial lease, operating lease;
  • purchases goods and services in connection with this motor vehicle is entitled to a VAT deduction of only 50% - this applies to fuel, repair and maintenance of the vehicle, parking, etc.
• The taxpayer is still obliged to take into account the provisions of Section 49 (4) and Section 54 of the VAT Act – if, according to the coefficient, the taxpayer is entitled to a lower VAT deduction than 50%, he can only deduct the lower tax.
• Non-deductible VAT is also not a tax expense for income tax.
• The following motor vehicles used exclusively for the purpose of doing business are excluded from the above limitation, which is:
  • Short-term rental (up to 30 days);
  • Transport of persons and their luggage, including taxi services;
  • operation of a driving school – if the motor vehicle is used as a training vehicle;
  • it is a demonstration or test vehicle or as a replacement vehicle provided to the customer during the repair and maintenance of the vehicle;
• The above restrictions also do not apply to vehicles used 100% for business or commercial vehicles.
• The use of motor vehicles exclusively for business or for activities that are excluded must be notified to the tax administrator on a one-off basis, If the taxpayer also notifies the tax administrator of this fact when the use of these vehicles begins for private purposes or for purposes other than those procured.
• The taxpayer must keep detailed records of the use of the motor vehicle in electronic form for each vehicle separately – the records include, among other things, details of each journey, time of its start, end, km travelled, the person who used it, the purpose of the journey, the place of commencement and end of the journey. Most of this information is provided by GPS extracts;
• The taxpayer provides these records to the tax administrator upon request.

• Changes in VAT rates
  • The reduced VAT rate of 19% excludes products with an above-limit content of salt and sugar. This does not apply to salt and sugar itself. These products will be subject to a 23% tax rate from 1 January 2026.
  • The rules on reduced tax rates for certain newspapers and magazines are relaxed. From 1 January 2026, magazines and newspapers that are published less regularly than 4 times a week will also be able to benefit from the reduced 5% VAT rate.

3. Financial transaction tax

• From 1 January 2026, the setting of the financial transaction tax will change significantly.
• From 1 January 2026, only legal entities, namely those with their registered office in the Czech Republic, as well as foreign legal entities that perform activities defined in the Act in Slovakia, will be taxpayers on financial transactions.
• The financial transaction tax will thus cease to apply to natural persons – entrepreneurs from 1 January 2026. These natural persons – entrepreneurs will no longer be obliged to carry out all transactions related to business on a business account, nor will they be obliged to open / keep such a payment account. It is important to emphasize that nothing will change for these natural persons – entrepreneurs until the end of 2025. Banks will continue to withhold tax on their business accounts for transactions that are subject to tax. Likewise, until the end of 2025, the obligations of sole proprietors – entrepreneurs for foreign payment accounts will also be maintained.
• Definitions of terms are introduced into the Act:
  • The definition of a permanent establishment for a taxpayer with limited tax liability has been added (a broader and slightly different definition than we know from income tax),
  • introduces a definition of a taxpayer as a taxpayer with unlimited tax liability that has its registered office in the Czech Republic;
  • A taxpayer with limited tax liability is a taxpayer who has a permanent establishment in the Czech Republic under the Financial Transaction Tax Act;
  • cost transfer is the amount of a financial transaction carried out on behalf of a taxpayer by a person other than the taxpayer, where, in the case of a taxpayer with limited tax liability, this financial transaction must be related to its activity in the country;
• A taxpayer with unlimited tax liability is subject to taxation on worldwide transactions;
• A taxpayer with limited tax liability is subject to taxation only on all domestic payment accounts and in the case of foreign accounts and recharged costs only to the extent that they are related to the activity in the country through a permanent establishment;
• Liability for tax is introduced on financial transactions that are subject to tax, but the taxpayer made them in a special account that he reported to the Slovak bank that it is used for transactions excluded from the subject of tax. The obligation of the tax administrator to impose a fine for this conduct is also introduced.

4. Special levy in a regulated sector

• Expansion of the circle of regulated entities
• From 1 January 2026, the special levy will also apply to:
  • pension management companies (Pillar II),
  • supplementary pension companies (Pillar III),
  • management companies operating in the field of collective investment under the authorisation of the NBS or the authorisation of another EU/EEA Member State.
• A special levy rate  of 0.0125 is introduced for these entities.
• If a regulated entity operates in more than one regulated area, the highest rate will always be used to calculate the levy.
• It adds that notification to the tax administrator is required not only when the levy base is changed, but also when the rate is changed.

5. Travel allowances

• The Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic has the authority to determine in a decree the amounts of meal allowances for foreign business trips, and these amounts can be adjusted according to the economic sectors and the employee's classification
• In the case of foreign business trips, it is possible to agree with an employee whose frequent change of workplace results from the special nature of the profession to reduce meal allowances by a maximum of 25% in the employment contract or agreement. By 2026, the reduction could be a maximum of 5%.

6. Tax amnesty

• The Government of the Slovak Republic has adopted a Regulation effective from 1.10.2025, which introduces a tax amnesty. The tax amnesty applies to:
  • tax arrears, which is registered by the tax administrator as of 30.9.2025 and will be paid in the period from 1.1.-30.6.2026. The tax administrator will not levy a fine or interest on late payment on late payment. If the fine or default interest has already been assessed and is not recovered as of 30.9.2026, this tax arrears in the amount of the assessed fine or default interest expires.
  • If in the period from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026 a taxpayer files a tax return for which the deadline for filing which has expired by 30 September 2025 and pays the amount assessed by the filed tax return in the same period, it will waive the assessment of a fine or interest on late payment.
  • If, in the period from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026, a taxpayer files a supplementary tax return to a tax return for which the deadline for filing which has expired by 30 September 2025 and pays the assessed amount or the difference in the amount in the same period, no fine will be assessed.
• The tax amnesty does not apply if the tax administrator is the municipality (local taxes and fees).