Text file: 5709.txt
author: "Rok Pe\u010Dar"
downvotes: 0
end consideration date: 2014-04-11
id: '5709'
number comments: 1
number views: 2500
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Finance\nBy way of introduction, the Ministry\
  \ of Finance has devoted considerable attention to the issue of charging value added\
  \ tax (VAT) on purchases of firefighting protective and rescue equipment (hereinafter\
  \ referred to as 'firefighting equipment'), in particular in the context of the\
  \ first revision of the Law on Value Added Tax in 2001, when the necessary harmonisations\
  \ with the acquis were included in the law which, prior to Slovenia's accession\
  \ to the EU, provided for a system of VAT taxation of the turnover of goods and\
  \ services.The Ministry of Finance has also introduced a number of amendments to\
  \ the Law on VAT on the turnover of goods and services. In this context, the Ministry\
  \ of Finance held several discussions with various representatives of firefighting\
  \ organisations, representatives of the National Assembly and other interested parties\
  \ and presented to them in detail the possibilities available under the VAT system\
  \ for the performance of firefighting tasks.\nThe system of VAT taxation of supplies\
  \ of goods and services in the Republic of Slovenia is in line with EU legislation\
  \ in this area, in particular Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system\
  \ of value added tax (hereinafter: the VAT Directive), which does not contain any\
  \ specific provisions on the tax relief arrangements for firefighting equipment,\
  \ nor does it provide for a special situation for firefighting organisations.\n\
  According to the Value Added Tax Act (Official Gazette of the RS, No 13/11-UPB,\
  \ 18/11, 78/11, 38/12, 40/12-ZUJF, 83/12, 46/13-ZIPRS1314-A and 101/13-ZIPRS1415;\
  \ hereinafter referred to as \"VAT Act\"), supplies of goods and services made by\
  \ a taxable person in the course of carrying out his/her economic activity in the\
  \ territory of Slovenia for consideration, acquisitions of goods within the Union\
  \ and imports of goods are subject to VAT. Amounts paid by taxable persons to persons\
  \ established under the regulations for the purpose of carrying out humanitarian\
  \ activities (i.e. also in connection with firefighting as a humanitarian activity\
  \ under the law governing the tasks, organisation and status of firefighting), which\
  \ are not payments for supplies of goods or services, are not subject to VAT.\n\
  Currently, Slovenia has a standard VAT rate of 22% and a lower VAT rate of 9.5%,\
  \ which applies to supplies of goods and services listed in Annex I to the VAT Act,\
  \ which are intended to meet the basic needs of final consumers (food, water, medicines,\
  \ medical devices, social housing), supplies of certain other goods of public importance\
  \ (public passenger transport, supplies of books and newspapers, admission fees\
  \ to cultural and sporting events, copyrights of writers, composers and performing\
  \ artists, short-term renting of hotel and holiday accommodation, use of sports\
  \ facilities, funeral services, sanitation services, services for agricultural use)\
  \ and certain labour-intensive services provided at local level (minor repairs of\
  \ bicycles, shoes and leather goods, clothing and household linen, renovation and\
  \ repair of private dwellings, cleaning of windows and private households, home\
  \ care services, hairdressing services), including the preparation of meals in the\
  \ catering trade and the supply of pot plants, seedlings and cut flowers.\nFire-fighting\
  \ equipment is not included in the list of supplies of goods and services in Annex\
  \ III to the VAT Directive to which Member States of the Union may apply a reduced\
  \ rate of VAT.\nIn addition to the reduced VAT rate, the VAT Act also provides for\
  \ certain VAT exemptions for certain activities in the public interest, in line\
  \ with the VAT Directive. For firefighting organisations, both, in relation to firefighting\
  \ as a humanitarian activity and provided that such treatment is unlikely to lead\
  \ to distortions of competition, an exemption from VAT is provided for services\
  \ supplied by these organisations to their members in return for membership fees\
  \ and also an exemption is provided for supplies of goods and services organised\
  \ by these organisations on an ad hoc basis in connection with fund-raising events\
  \ and exclusively for their own benefit.\nDue to the general features of the operation\
  \ of the VAT system, it is not possible to ensure that firefighting equipment is\
  \ supplied to firefighting organisations exempt from VAT, as such a special tax\
  \ treatment of a particular supply of goods would be based on who is the recipient\
  \ or what source of funds is used to pay for the supply, would undermine the principle\
  \ of tax neutrality and equal treatment of taxable persons in the exercise of an\
  \ economic activity on the market, in the specific case of suppliers of firefighting\
  \ equipment, who would also be unable to deduct input VAT or to deduct it in full\
  \ as a result of the exempt supplies.\nIn the light of the above, the issue of the\
  \ payment of VAT on purchases or upgrades of firefighting equipment by voluntary\
  \ firefighting associations cannot be dealt with under the VAT system, as the Ministry\
  \ of Finance has explained in previous discussions in this respect.   \n \n "
response date: 2014-05-06
response due date: null
sent date: 2014-03-13
title: Purchase of firefighting equipment tax-free
upvotes: 13
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/5709
