Text file: 2385.txt
author: peter i
downvotes: 4
end consideration date: 2012-03-24
id: '2385'
number comments: 7
number views: 1880
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs\nFollowing\
  \ Slovenia's independence in 1992, new laws were adopted in the field of social\
  \ insurance, the content of which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.\
  \ In the former Yugoslavia, following the example of most continental European countries,\
  \ a law on workers' insurance was adopted in 1922, which stipulated that compulsory\
  \ sickness, accident, pension and unemployment insurance should be introduced. The\
  \ insurance was introduced gradually. One of the basic principles of compulsory\
  \ insurance remains unchanged, namely the principle of reciprocity and solidarity,\
  \ according to which subjects ensure their material and social security by paying\
  \ contributions in accordance with their means and later claiming benefits when\
  \ they fulfil the conditions. In this way, material and social security is also\
  \ guaranteed to those persons who, for objective reasons, cannot guarantee a general\
  \ level of social security on the basis of their contributions and conditions. The\
  \ so-called pay-as-you-go system of pension and invalidity insurance allows the\
  \ contributions collected in the pension fund to be redistributed according to the\
  \ needs of the insured persons, when the contributions paid by an individual insured\
  \ person would not be sufficient to pay the pension or the minimum pension. However,\
  \ this is only one argument in favour of such an arrangement. It should be borne\
  \ in mind that if any changes to the pension scheme are envisaged, especially radical\
  \ ones such as the proposed one, the preliminary question to be answered is whether\
  \ society is ripe for such a major change.   The pension and invalidity insurance\
  \ system has become well established in the minds of citizens over the course of\
  \ its long history, and this is also reflected in their expectation that, in the\
  \ event of any shortfalls in social security (loss of income, low income, low pension,\
  \ etc.), they will be taken care of by the state. In a period of financial and economic\
  \ crisis, such as that which Slovenia has been facing in recent years, the current\
  \ arrangements seem all the more appropriate. Nowadays, we are all exposed to the\
  \ need for savings, both state and personal, and neither is possible without effort\
  \ and the discipline to make sacrifices. Indeed, the proposed measure raises the\
  \ concern that individuals would lack the discipline that the system would require,\
  \ namely to set aside part of the income received each month for pension and invalidity\
  \ insurance. It could very well happen that the income received would be used for\
  \ current monthly needs, which is expected to be even more frequent in times of\
  \ crisis. The lower the income, the more difficult it is to set aside a part of\
  \ it, even if it is earmarked for old-age savings, which means that the proposed\
  \ form of insurance would pose the greatest threat to the already more vulnerable\
  \ sections of the population. One of the indicators that the proposed measure cannot\
  \ be considered adequate is the supplementary pension and invalidity insurance introduced\
  \ in 2000. Despite the significant number of people enrolled in supplementary pension\
  \ insurance to date, it is precisely in recent years (economic and financial crisis)\
  \ that there have been increasing demands from individuals for a lump-sum payment\
  \ of their savings and thus for withdrawal from the insurance. We are in a time\
  \ when the need to have funds available is now greater than the need to save for\
  \ old age.  In line with the above, we believe that, given the established basic\
  \ principles of pension and invalidity insurance, which have become part of the\
  \ individual's consciousness over its long history, society is not ready for such\
  \ major changes, especially not in the context of the economic and financial crisis\
  \ that it is facing on a daily basis.  \nThe response of the Ministry of Finance\n\
  In accordance with the Social Contributions Act (Official Gazette of the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia, No 5/96, 18/96-ZDavP, 34/96, 87/97, 3/98, 106/99-ZPIZ-1, 81/00-ZPSV-C,\
  \ 97/01-ZSDP, 97/01, 62/10.Odl. US), taxpayers shall pay social security contributions,\
  \ including pension and invalidity insurance contributions and health insurance\
  \ contributions, from gross salary and gross wage compensation for time away from\
  \ work in accordance with the Labour Relations Act, unless otherwise provided by\
  \ law. Employers shall pay social security contributions on gross wages and on gross\
  \ wage allowances for periods of absence from work in accordance with the Labour\
  \ Code, which shall be borne by employers, unless otherwise provided by law. According\
  \ to Article 352 of the Tax Procedure Act (Official Gazette of the RS, No 13/11\
  \ - official consolidated text, hereinafter referred to as \"ZDavTP-2\"), the compulsory\
  \ social security contributions are calculated by the contributors in the social\
  \ security contribution statement. The social security contribution statement must\
  \ be submitted by the taxable persons in the prescribed content and form and must\
  \ contain information which is true, complete and correct with respect to the particular\
  \ tax law and must not mislead the authority responsible for collecting social security\
  \ contributions. Social security contributions shall be calculated at the rates\
  \ applicable on the date on which the tax liability for social security contributions\
  \ arises. In the case where the insured person is liable for the calculation and\
  \ payment of contributions by his employer or by another person (e.g. social security\
  \ benefit payer, pension payer, social assistance payer, etc.), this shall be done\
  \ in the withholding tax return (i.e. in the REK form) at the same time as the calculation\
  \ of the income tax withholding tax. The REK form must be submitted by the taxable\
  \ person to the DURS no later than on the day of payment of the income, in accordance\
  \ with Article 283 of the Income Tax Act.2 In accordance with Article 284 of the\
  \ Income Tax Act, the taxable person must also make payment of the income tax and\
  \ contributions on the day of payment of the income. In accordance with the legislation\
  \ in force, the tax authority shall supervise the legality, correctness and timeliness\
  \ of the fulfilment of tax obligations and social security contributions. The tax\
  \ authorities exercise this control in accordance with the rules laid down by law,\
  \ which are uniform for all taxable persons. In the area of the obligation to participate\
  \ in the compulsory social insurance system and to calculate and pay compulsory\
  \ social security contributions, the tax authority carries out all forms of control\
  \ activities, which is also confirmed by the high level of payments of calculated\
  \ contributions, which amounts to over 97 % on an annual basis. The monitoring of\
  \ the calculation and payment of compulsory social security contributions should\
  \ be considered primarily from the point of view of two main groups of taxpayers:\
  \ 1) taxpayers who do not submit the statutory contribution statements to the tax\
  \ authority; 2) debtors - taxpayers who have submitted a contribution statement\
  \ to the tax authority but have not paid the contributions according to the statement.\
  \ K 1) The tax authority focuses a lot of its activities on the control of taxable\
  \ persons who do not submit their own contribution statements, as in this case the\
  \ obligation to pay contributions is not automatically registered with the tax authority.\
  \ Obliged persons who fail to submit the statutory contribution statement to the\
  \ tax authority are not automatically registered as liable for contributions, even\
  \ though they have not submitted a monthly contribution statement and have not paid\
  \ contributions in respect thereof. The tax authority obtains information on these\
  \ taxpayers by checking the data on the established basis for compulsory insurance\
  \ of insured persons, which it obtains on a daily basis from the Health Insurance\
  \ Fund. If the employer who is liable for the payment of contributions of an insured\
  \ person is an employer who does not submit a monthly statement to the tax authority,\
  \ the tax authority first checks in the control procedure whether the actual payment\
  \ of the net salary to the employees has been made, as under the current regime\
  \ the obligation to account for contributions is linked to the actual payment of\
  \ the salary or any other remuneration received by the employee. It does this in\
  \ various ways: it asks the employer to submit Form REK-1 or a declaration that\
  \ no wages have been paid; if the employer does not respond, it also asks the employees\
  \ to submit a declaration or evidence of the payments received; and the tax authority\
  \ establishes whether net wages have actually been paid in the course of a tax inspection.\
  \ If the employer's verification shows that he has not actually paid the net wages\
  \ to the employees, he is not obliged to submit a contribution statement and to\
  \ pay the contributions, as the current legislation does not require monthly contribution\
  \ statements if the wages have not actually been paid. The Tax Administration of\
  \ the Republic of Slovenia (hereinafter referred to as the \"DURS\") transmits information\
  \ on these employers to the Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia, which\
  \ is responsible for supervising the implementation of the provisions of the Labour\
  \ Relations Act (the \"LRA\"). Article 134 of this Act provides that wages are to\
  \ be paid for pay periods not exceeding one month and that wages are to be paid\
  \ no later than 18 days after the end of the pay period. If the tax authority establishes\
  \ in the course of an inspection procedure that the employer has paid net wages,\
  \ the liability to pay contributions shall be registered with the tax authority\
  \ as follows: a) on the basis of the subsequently submitted Form REK-1 b) on the\
  \ basis of the valuation of the tax and contribution base in the decision (on the\
  \ basis of the evidence of actual payments received from the employees), c) on the\
  \ basis of the decision issued in the course of a tax inspection procedure. DURS\
  \ regularly informs ZZZS and ZPIZ of irregularities detected. At the same time,\
  \ when irregularities are found in relation to labour law regulations, DURS itself\
  \ takes action on the basis of its legal powers and informs the Labour Inspectorate\
  \ of the Republic of Slovenia about the irregularities. If the conduct of the taxable\
  \ person has the characteristics of an offence, the DURS shall carry out an offence\
  \ procedure and if the conduct of the taxable person has the characteristics of\
  \ a criminal offence, the DURS shall, in accordance with the law regulating criminal\
  \ procedure, forward a criminal charge to the competent district public prosecutor's\
  \ office or a report to the police. As the employer's failure to submit a contribution\
  \ statement is also a suspicion of an offence under Article 231(10)(1) of the Labour\
  \ Relations Act (failure to pay wages to the employee in accordance with Articles\
  \ 134 and 135 of the Labour Relations Act), the DURS acts in these cases as the\
  \ initiator of the offence proceedings.   K 2) With the aim of debt reduction, the\
  \ DURS carries out all tax enforcement procedures provided for in the tax legislation.\
  \ The DURS seeks to recover outstanding liabilities through various tax enforcement\
  \ activities and measures. As a rule, DURS summons the debtor with a reminder to\
  \ settle the debt as soon as possible before starting the tax enforcement action.\
  \ If the debtor fails to settle the outstanding debt despite the reminder, DURS\
  \ initiates tax enforcement by issuing a tax enforcement order. Tax execution may\
  \ be carried out on the debtor's: d) cash receipts e) cash at banks and savings\
  \ banks, f) receivables, g) movable property and securities. If the outstanding\
  \ obligations cannot be recovered from the debtor's cash receipts, account balances,\
  \ receivables or movable property, the DURS shall send a proposal to the State Advocate\
  \ for enforcement against the debtor's immovable property or the share of a partner\
  \ in a company or against property rights. The enforcement shall be carried out\
  \ by the court in accordance with the law governing enforcement and security. We\
  \ further clarify that, from the point of view of the employee's control over the\
  \ calculation and payment of contributions for compulsory pension and invalidity\
  \ insurance and contributions for health insurance, which his employer is obliged\
  \ to calculate and pay on his behalf, Article 21 of the Income Tax Act-2 allows\
  \ any natural person to have the tax authority disclose the above information to\
  \ him upon his request.  On the basis of the above, we consider that the current\
  \ legal regime is adequate and therefore we consider that the proposal is not suitable\
  \ for implementation from a systemic point of view.   "
response date: 2012-05-10
response due date: null
sent date: 2012-02-24
title: I propose that instead of companies, the bank pays into the pension and health
  funds.
upvotes: 19
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/2385
