Text file: 2653.txt
author: mlad27
downvotes: 0
end consideration date: 2012-04-25
id: '2653'
number comments: 8
number views: 3718
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Finance\nThe Religious Freedom Act (Official\
  \ Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No 14/2007, 46/2010 - Decree of the US, hereinafter\
  \ referred to as the \"RFA\") defines the right to earmarked state aid for the payment\
  \ of social security contributions by the insured for employees of churches and\
  \ other religious communities.  Furthermore, the ZVS provides that the public funds\
  \ for the payment of these contributions are provided by the competent authority\
  \ from the state budget and transferred to the account of the church or other religious\
  \ community. The Court of Auditors of the Republic of Slovenia and other competent\
  \ authorities supervise the legality and purposefulness of the expenditure. The\
  \ Law on Balancing Public Finances, which was discussed in the National Assembly\
  \ at the same time as the draft rebalancing of the 2012 budget, amends the ZVS in\
  \ so far as it relates to the amount of earmarked state financial aid from the state\
  \ budget to cover social security contributions of employees of churches and other\
  \ religious communities (Article 27). After the entry into force of the Law on Balancing\
  \ Public Finances, paragraph 1 of Article 27 will be amended to read as follows.\
  \ Article 2, paragraph 2, will read : \"Under the terms of this Act, registered\
  \ churches and other religious communities may, for their religious servants who\
  \ are citizens of the Republic of Slovenia with permanent residence in the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia, and for whom the profession of religious servant is their sole profession,\
  \ apply, on the basis of their authorisation and on their behalf, for the right\
  \ to receive earmarked State financial assistance from the State budget to cover\
  \ social security contributions in the amount of the following types of social security\
  \ contributions on a base of at least 48 per cent of the average salary for the\
  \ month preceding the month in which the insurance base is determined: for compulsory\
  \ pension and invalidity insurance (contribution by the insured person) and for\
  \ compulsory sickness insurance (contribution by the insured person).\" The percentage\
  \ changes, as it was 60% in the current ZVS. On the issue of taxation of religious\
  \ communities, we would like to clarify the following: The Corporate Income Tax\
  \ Act (hereinafter referred to as the \"CITA - 2\", Official Gazette 117/06 et seq.)\
  \ provides for the taxation of legal persons, including religious communities. According\
  \ to Article 9 ZDDPO-2, religious communities are subject to corporate income tax\
  \ on their profit-making activities. Income from the exercise of non-profit-making\
  \ activities by religious communities is exempt from tax. In determining the tax\
  \ base of a religious community referred to in Article 9, income from the exercise\
  \ of a non-profit-making activity and the actual or proportionate costs of that\
  \ activity shall be excluded from the tax base.  Profitable and non-profitable activities\
  \ (for all taxable persons referred to in Article 9 ZDDPO-2, not only for the purposes\
  \ of religious communities), or which income is considered to be the pursuit of\
  \ a profitable activity, or which income is considered to be the pursuit of a non-profitable\
  \ activity, are further defined in the Regulation on the definition of profitable\
  \ and non-profitable activities (Official Gazette No. The Regulation provides that\
  \ the activity of a taxable person is considered to be gainful if at least one of\
  \ the conditions is fulfilled, namely that the activity is carried out on the market\
  \ for profit or that the taxable person competes on the market with other persons\
  \ liable under ZDDPO-2 by carrying out the activity. The Regulations go on (i.e.\
  \ in Articles 3 and 4) to specify, by way of example, which income is non-profit\
  \ (e.g. membership fees, donations) and which income is profit (e.g. dividends,\
  \ bank interest, rents). Similar rules apply to the taxation of immovable property\
  \ of religious communities. In principle, religious communities, as legal persons,\
  \ are liable for the payment of a building land use tax on immovable property owned\
  \ by them. The fee is payable for undeveloped and built-up building land in accordance\
  \ with the Building Land Act (ZSZ, Official Gazette of the RS, No 44/97) and the\
  \ Building Construction Act (ZGO-1, Official Gazette of the RS, No 102/04 - UPB1,\
  \ 14/05 - corrected, 92/05 - ZJC-B, 93/05 - ZVMS, 111/05 - US Decree, 120/06 - US\
  \ Decree, 126/07, 57/09 - SG SG No 57/09). The exemption under the ZSZ applies only\
  \ to buildings used by religious communities for their religious activities. According\
  \ to the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, which is responsible\
  \ for this levy, these are churches, chapels, parishes, seminaries, religious schools,\
  \ etc. However, other types of real estate, i.e. real estate used by religious communities\
  \ for their profit-making activities, are subject to the levy. We would also like\
  \ to point out that the Tax Administration of the Republic of Slovenia supervises\
  \ the legality, correctness and timeliness of the fulfilment of tax obligations.\
  \ With regard to the taxation of prostitution and trafficking in prohibited substances,\
  \ we submit the following position: From a tax perspective, the activity of prostitution\
  \ is treated in the same way as the activity of all other independent activities,\
  \ namely, the income from the activity of prostitution is taxed as business income\
  \ in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Official Gazette of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia, No. 13/2011-UPB7, 24/2012, 30/2012, hereinafter referred\
  \ to as ZDoh-2). Therefore, a natural person carrying out the activity of prostitution\
  \ would have to register for such activity in accordance with Article 44 of the\
  \ Tax Service Act (Official Gazette of the RS, No. 1/07-UPB2, 40/09, 33/11) with\
  \ the competent tax authority and, in accordance with the provisions of ZDoh-2,\
  \ pay income tax on the income from such activity, the amount of which is determined\
  \ in accordance with ZDoh-2 and in the manner provided for by the Tax Procedure\
  \ Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 13/11-UPB4, 32/12, hereinafter\
  \ referred to as ZDavP-2). It follows that natural persons engaged in the activity\
  \ of prostitution are taxed in the same way as other natural persons engaged in\
  \ the activity.  From the point of view of tax control over the legality, correctness\
  \ and timeliness of the calculation and payment of tax liabilities, prostitution\
  \ is a high-risk activity, as it is mainly carried out in the black, in rented accommodation,\
  \ where control is difficult. Unlike prostitution, which is not prohibited under\
  \ Slovenian law, the sale of illegal substances is an illegal and punishable activity,\
  \ as is clear from the provisions of the Criminal Code (Official Gazette of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia, No 55/08, 39/09, 91/11). Despite the illegal origin of the\
  \ income and assets from the activity of trafficking in illicit substances, the\
  \ income from such activities is taxable under the provisions of the Income Tax\
  \ Code-2. As income from illegal and criminal activities is generally not reported\
  \ to the tax administration, the Tax Procedure Act lays down rules which allow the\
  \ supervisory authority to assess tax liability by means of a decision in the tax\
  \ control procedure even if the income is of illegal origin. For example, in Art.\
  \ Article 68 of the Tax Code-2 provides that if a taxable person fails to file a\
  \ tax return or to submit a tax return to the tax authority, or files or submits\
  \ them without the information necessary to establish the tax liability, or if a\
  \ natural person fails to declare income, or if the tax authority establishes that\
  \ the tax return or tax return is based on false or incorrect information, or if\
  \ the tax authority establishes that the income declared or the income shown in\
  \ the tax return, is not proportionate to the expenditure declared or shown in the\
  \ tax return, unless the taxable person gives valid reasons or unless the taxable\
  \ person fails to produce, at the request of the tax authority, the books and records\
  \ which he is required to keep, or the books and records are materially incorrect\
  \ or show such material formal deficiencies as to justify doubts as to their accuracy\
  \ in substance, or unless the employer fails to provide withholding tax information\
  \ on employment income, the tax authority may, on the basis of the provisions of\
  \ Article 68(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 The tax authority may, in accordance\
  \ with the provisions of Article 68 of the Income Tax Code, carry out an assessment\
  \ of the taxable amount of the employment tax and, on that basis, assess the tax.\
  \  Furthermore, Article 74 of the ITA-2 provides that taxation is not affected by\
  \ the fact of an illegal act or practice, but rather by the economic consequences\
  \ of such practice, which are then taxed accordingly. The latter means that in the\
  \ case of circumvention or abuse of other rules, the tax liability arises, and it\
  \ arises as it would have arisen in the light of the relationships created on the\
  \ basis of economic events.  However, Article 132(5) of the ITA-2 provides that\
  \ an inspection may also be carried out on a natural person carrying on an unregistered\
  \ activity with an impact on the taxable person's taxation.  On the basis of the\
  \ above, we consider that the issue of taxation of natural persons and the activities\
  \ addressed by the proposal are adequately regulated by law.  With regard to the\
  \ proposal to introduce excise duties on caffeine and tein products, sweets and\
  \ food with added harmful E preservatives, we would like to inform you of the following:\
  \ In the second half of 2011, the Ministry of Finance held several discussions with\
  \ the ministries responsible for health, economy, agriculture and food, as well\
  \ as with representatives of the food industry (Chamber of Agricultural and Food\
  \ Enterprises) on the introduction of excise duties on sweetened beverages. After\
  \ an exchange of views on the health situation in Slovenia, the impact of sugary\
  \ drinks on youth obesity, the types and harmfulness of sugar substitutes, the impact\
  \ on competitiveness, projects on local production and the supply of agricultural\
  \ products, it was concluded that this is a long-term project in which all the above-mentioned\
  \ ministries need to coordinate policies on healthy living, structural changes in\
  \ the economy and agriculture, and the introduction of excise duties. In deciding\
  \ how to proceed with this project, it will have to be borne in mind that excise\
  \ duty is not simply the payment of an additional tax, but involves the implementation\
  \ of a complex excise duty regime, which means in particular the introduction of\
  \ controls on the production, storage and movement of products, the precise definition\
  \ of the product to be taxed, the precise definition of the person liable to pay\
  \ the excise duty, and so on. In order to treat certain foodstuffs and beverages\
  \ as excisable products and to establish excise duty controls on them, there must\
  \ be compelling reasons not to impose an additional administrative burden on potential\
  \ excise duty payers.  The introduction of a new excise product must be duly justified,\
  \ in particular from the point of view of the impact on health in the present case\
  \ (sweets, caffeine and tein products and foods with added harmful E preservatives).\
  \ In addition to this criterion, the financial impact of the proposed tax will be\
  \ a factor in deciding whether to impose it, and the decision will also have to\
  \ be judged in terms of the psychological effect on consumers. Excise duties are\
  \ generally levied on products which are characterised by the fact that they cannot,\
  \ in principle, be substituted by other similar products and that the demand for\
  \ these products is relatively rigid. Otherwise, no positive effects can be expected\
  \ and the underlying purpose of their introduction is undermined. In this context,\
  \ it should be noted that the imposition of excise duties on products which are\
  \ not taxed or treated as excisable in a neighbouring country would not have the\
  \ desired effect, due to the free movement of goods between Member States. On the\
  \ contrary, it would lead to a proliferation of imports of such food and beverages\
  \ from other Member States. The idea of additional taxation of certain, mainly harmful\
  \ food and beverages is a viable one, but not necessarily financially efficient,\
  \ and very burdensome in terms of costs (both for the taxable person and for the\
  \ control authority) and administrative obstacles, which reduces the financial impact\
  \ even further. The Government's objective is, however, to pursue an excise duty\
  \ policy that will have a positive overall financial impact - taking into account\
  \ all the benefits to the Slovenian budget of the increased revenue and the costs\
  \ to the Slovenian budget.\n "
response date: 2012-05-17
response due date: null
sent date: 2012-03-27
title: Austerity measures
upvotes: 34
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/2653
