Text file: 1544.txt
author: peter i
downvotes: 7
end consideration date: 2011-03-30
id: '1544'
number comments: 12
number views: 2868
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs\nThe Ministry\
  \ of Labour, Family and Social Affairs has received a letter, submitted via the\
  \ online tool predlagam.vladi.si, in which the author proposes that part of the\
  \ gross salary earmarked for pension and invalidity insurance be transferred to\
  \ the net salary and that the banks with which the insured persons have accounts\
  \ take over the payment of contributions instead of the companies. This part of\
  \ the salary would be blocked for the account holder and could only be used to pay\
  \ pension and health insurance contributions. He considers that this would remove\
  \ the uncertainty for insured persons who currently do not know whether they are\
  \ insured or whether their employer is paying their pension, invalidity and health\
  \ insurance contributions regularly.\nThank you for your views and also for your\
  \ suggestions on how to resolve the difficulties in paying pension and invalidity\
  \ insurance contributions. At the same time, we would like to clarify that the Ministry\
  \ of Labour, Family and Social Affairs is aware of the problems that non-payment\
  \ of contributions and the inability of workers to control the payment of pension\
  \ and invalidity insurance contributions, which individuals have faced in the past,\
  \ bring to the Ministry's attention, which is why last year the Tax Administration\
  \ of the Republic of Slovenia set up a system that allows individuals to have insight\
  \ into the payment of contributions and thus to control them on a monthly basis.\
  \ Article 21 of the Tax Procedure Act provides that the tax authority shall disclose\
  \ to any natural person, at his or her request, information on contributions for\
  \ compulsory pension and invalidity insurance, contributions for compulsory health\
  \ insurance, contributions for employment or contributions for parental care paid\
  \ or payable by the person's employer or other person. Information on compulsory\
  \ social security contributions arising from the employment relationship, including\
  \ information on the payment of pension and invalidity insurance contributions,\
  \ is available through eTaxes. In view of the above, we therefore consider that\
  \ since 2010 an adequate system has been in place for individuals to monitor the\
  \ payment of social security contributions, which means that there is no need for\
  \ a new system or a change of contributor in terms of individual control over the\
  \ payment/non-payment of contributions.\nAt the same time, we would like to clarify\
  \ that changing the contributor in the way proposed also entails additional costs.\
  \ Banks are legal persons governed by private law and cannot be obliged to provide\
  \ services that would be free of charge to the user. This means that a change of\
  \ contributor to the pension and invalidity insurance scheme would entail additional\
  \ costs for the users, as the bank would also charge the user for its services.\
  \ On the other hand, a system set up in the way proposed would not bring any concrete\
  \ benefits, since under the current legislation and the systems already in place,\
  \ individuals can check on an ongoing basis whether they have paid their pension\
  \ and invalidity insurance contributions as a result of their employment. We also\
  \ do not believe that changing the contributor to the compulsory pension scheme\
  \ would force the employer to be more disciplined in paying contributions, as is\
  \ the aim of the State, which has also abolished the possibility of deferring and\
  \ paying pension and invalidity insurance contributions in instalments by means\
  \ of new tax legislation to this end.   \nReply from the Ministry of Finance\nThe\
  \ Ministry of Finance has received an initiative from your office for consideration\
  \ regarding the change in the payment of contributions to the pension and health\
  \ insurance funds.\nThe Ministry of Finance does not agree with the proposal to\
  \ transfer the part of gross salary that is earmarked for the pension and health\
  \ fund to the net part of the salary, to give each individual control over the payment\
  \ into the pension and health fund and to have the banks with which we have a bank\
  \ account take over the payment into the pension and health fund instead of the\
  \ companies, so that they do not have to wonder every month whether their employer\
  \ has paid all the obligations to them and so that they do not have to worry about\
  \ whether they are insured and whether they will even be able to retire when they\
  \ are supposed to. And that this part of their salary would be blocked for the account\
  \ holder and would be earmarked exclusively for the pension and health funds.\n\
  It is not appropriate to place the responsibility for, or the payment of, contributions\
  \ to the pension and health funds solely on the banks for two reasons:\nThe system\
  \ for calculating and paying contributions already exists; the flexibility of this\
  \ system would be significantly reduced by transferring responsibility to the banks.\n\
  Banks are, by their very nature, financial intermediaries and not institutions whose\
  \ business is to calculate and pay directly into health and pension funds.\nFrom\
  \ a tax point of view, the Ministry of Finance explains the following:\nThe method\
  \ of payment of social insurance contributions (pension and invalidity insurance,\
  \ health insurance, unemployment insurance and parental care insurance) is laid\
  \ down by sectoral laws, the Social Security Contributions Act and the Tax Procedure\
  \ Act.\nIf the insured person is employed, he/she pays contributions from his/her\
  \ salary (gross) and other income. The employer is obliged to calculate the amount\
  \ of the contribution for the insured person, deduct it from his/her income and\
  \ pay it to the recipients of the contributions (ZPIZS, ZZZS, the State budget).\
  \ In order to inform the individual about the payments to the pension and health\
  \ insurance funds, we would like to clarify that, pursuant to Article 21 of the\
  \ Tax Procedure Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 13/11-UPB4;\
  \ hereinafter referred to as \"ZDavta P. 2\"), the tax authority may disclose to\
  \ any natural person, upon his/her request, information on contributions for compulsory\
  \ pension and invalidity insurance, contributions for compulsory health insurance,\
  \ contributions for employment or contributions for parental care (hereinafter referred\
  \ to as \"social security contributions\") paid or payable on his/her behalf by\
  \ his/her employer or by any other person (hereinafter referred to as \"employer's\
  \ social security contributions\").\nAny employed natural person can also check,\
  \ via the eTaxes portal, whether his employer is complying with his obligations\
  \ in respect of social security contributions levied and paid by means of direct\
  \ electronic access to information on the status of payments of social security\
  \ contributions.\nThe main tasks of the tax service, which is performed by the Tax\
  \ Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (hereinafter: DURS), are, in accordance\
  \ with the Tax Service Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 1/07-ZDS-1-UPB2,\
  \ 40/09 and 3/11; hereinafter: ZDS-1) the collection of taxes and other compulsory\
  \ duties (tax collection according to ZDavP-2 means the levying, assessment, payment,\
  \ refund, control and enforcement of taxes), the exercise of control over the legality,\
  \ correctness and timeliness of the fulfilment of tax obligations laid down in the\
  \ regulations on taxation, and the prevention and detection of tax offences and\
  \ other criminal offences laid down in the regulations, the supervision of which\
  \ is the responsibility of the Tax Service.\nIn accordance with the legislation\
  \ in force, the DURS also supervises the legality, correctness and timeliness of\
  \ the calculation and payment of social security contributions. In tax supervision,\
  \ the tax authority verifies whether taxpayers comply with their tax obligations,\
  \ in this specific case, whether they calculate and pay social security contributions.\
  \ Tax supervision comprises tax inspection of tax returns, which is carried out\
  \ at the tax authority's premises, tax inspection, which comprises the supervision\
  \ of all or certain areas of business or all types of tax for one or more tax periods,\
  \ and tax investigation, which is initiated where there are grounds for suspecting\
  \ that an act has been committed in breach of the rules on taxation, or for the\
  \ purpose of carrying out acts and measures under the law, to provide mutual assistance\
  \ to the authorities of the Community, EU Member States and third countries. If,\
  \ in the course of the tax control procedure, the tax authority finds that the taxable\
  \ person has not correctly calculated and paid the contributions, it shall first\
  \ warn him to submit a correction of the tax return. If the taxable person fails\
  \ to do so, the taxable person will be ordered to pay the underpaid contributions\
  \ by means of an assessment decision, in accordance with the legal powers of the\
  \ tax authorities. If the taxable person fails to pay the contributions within the\
  \ statutory time limit, the tax authority shall initiate tax enforcement proceedings.\n\
  In accordance with the provisions of ZDAVP-2, the tax authority may require security\
  \ for the tax debt, both before the decision is issued or the deadline for submitting\
  \ the tax return has expired (security for the fulfilment of the tax debt), and\
  \ in the case of deferral or payment in instalments of the tax liability, if it\
  \ has reasonable grounds to expect that the fulfilment or payment of the tax liability\
  \ will be prevented or substantially impeded. In the case of debtors who are owners\
  \ of immovable property, the tax authority may propose to the court or through the\
  \ competent public prosecutor's office that the tax debt be secured by the registration\
  \ of a lien on their immovable property or on the share of a shareholder in a company.\
  \ This gives the tax authority the possibility to obtain security in rem after the\
  \ enforceability of the writ of execution, without any prior tax enforcement action\
  \ being necessary.\nDURS also regularly informs the Health Care Institute of Slovenia,\
  \ the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute and the Labour Inspectorate of\
  \ irregularities detected, and takes appropriate action itself on the basis of its\
  \ statutory powers in the event of irregularities detected in relation to labour\
  \ law regulations. If the conduct of the taxable person has the characteristics\
  \ of an offence, the DURS shall carry out an offence proceeding, and if the conduct\
  \ of the taxable person has the characteristics of a criminal offence, the DURS\
  \ shall, in accordance with the provisions of Article 145(1) of the Criminal Procedure\
  \ Act, forward a criminal charge to the competent district public prosecutor's office\
  \ or a report to the police.\nThe tax authority shall initiate tax enforcement proceedings\
  \ if the taxpayer fails to pay the tax within the statutory time limit. Any property\
  \ or property right of the debtor may be subject to tax execution, unless it is\
  \ exempted or restricted by law from tax execution. By means of a tax execution\
  \ order, the tax authority may attach the debtor's cash receipts, his cash at banks\
  \ and savings banks, receivables, securities or movable property. If the debt cannot\
  \ be recovered from those assets, the court may, on the basis of the law governing\
  \ enforcement and security, execute a tax execution on the debtor's immovable property\
  \ and the share of the shareholder in the company, as well as on property rights.\n\
  As follows from the above, the Ministry of Finance considers that there is no need\
  \ to change the system for collecting social security contributions, since the current\
  \ legislation provides a sufficient basis for the competent authorities to take\
  \ appropriate action in the event that a taxpayer has failed to calculate and pay\
  \ social security contributions, and the employee has the option of checking on\
  \ an ongoing basis whether the employer has paid contributions on his/her behalf.\
  \ Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance takes the view that monitoring the calculation\
  \ and payment of contributions, as proposed, would also be administratively more\
  \ burdensome for the insured person himself, since, as we understand the proposal,\
  \ the obligation to pay contributions would be transferred directly to the insured\
  \ person himself."
response date: 2011-05-09
response due date: null
sent date: 2011-02-28
title: I propose that instead of companies, the bank pays into the pension and health
  funds.
upvotes: 9
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/1544
