Text file: 5902.txt
author: ahac36 nuncij
downvotes: 9
end consideration date: 2014-06-18
id: '5902'
number comments: 18
number views: 5064
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment\nAnyone engaged\
  \ in agriculture who fulfils the conditions laid down is eligible for an agricultural\
  \ policy grant, irrespective of their legal status (natural person, legal entity,\
  \ partnership, etc.).\n Response from the Ministry of Finance\nThe formulation of\
  \ tax solutions or measures in individual tax laws follows the basic tax principles\
  \ and objectives of tax policy. The basic objective of a country's tax policy is\
  \ to ensure that the country's public revenue is sufficient to meet its common needs,\
  \ within the framework of respect for constitutional and legal frameworks and general\
  \ tax principles, such as the principle of general fiscal obligation, the principle\
  \ of economic viability, the principle of sustainability, the principle of economic\
  \ neutrality, the principle of incentivisation. However, tax policy is also used\
  \ to pursue broader societal objectives in the economic, social, health, environmental\
  \ and other spheres of society. Tax measures are therefore also used as a channel\
  \ through which policies in other spheres of society are guided. This means that\
  \ the design of tax legislation also takes into account other non-tax legislation,\
  \ the actual circumstances and situation in other areas at any given time, and the\
  \ social policy priorities formulated on this basis.\nThe tax treatment of agricultural\
  \ activity or farmers is therefore also a reflection of the non-tax legislation\
  \ governing agriculture, the state of agriculture, the objectives of agricultural\
  \ policy, which is also shaped through the socio-political importance given to agriculture\
  \ at particular times.\nThe second, basic regulation of an area, a business, an\
  \ income, is very important for tax regulation, because tax legislation must, from\
  \ the point of view of efficiency, simplicity and transparency, follow the solutions\
  \ already formulated in the parent legislation of an area. In the area of agricultural\
  \ and forestry activities, a different treatment is already provided for at the\
  \ level of the basic status legislation, namely, the law governing companies provides\
  \ that this law applies to persons who, as individuals or jointly, carry out agricultural\
  \ or forestry activities only if, at their request, they are entered as companies\
  \ in the court register or as entrepreneurs in the Business Register of Slovenia.\
  \ This different status regime, which is to be established by the law governing\
  \ agriculture, has by definition the effect of treating natural persons engaged\
  \ in agricultural activity who do not have the status of sole proprietors differently\
  \ from natural persons engaged in agricultural activity who do not have the status\
  \ of sole proprietorship.\nIn drafting tax legislation, the Ministry of Finance\
  \ endeavours to take into account as far as possible the principle of contributing\
  \ according to economic strength, by treating taxpayers in a similar situation equally\
  \ and sharing the burden fairly, and by being sustainable and as economically neutral\
  \ as possible. In this context, efforts are made to ensure that income derived from\
  \ agricultural and forestry activities is also taxed on the basis of the actual\
  \ income, ascertained on the basis of the keeping of appropriate books and records,\
  \ as is the case for income derived by natural persons from other activities. The\
  \ application of a flat-rate income assessment (cadastral income) should be limited\
  \ to small, non-professional, non-specialised and more subsistence-oriented farms,\
  \ which are not generally engaged in activities in the strict sense of the word\
  \ but which perform an important function in maintaining the cultural landscape\
  \ and the rural population. As part of the above efforts, for the 2014 tax year,\
  \ a compulsory entry into the tax base for income from primary agricultural and\
  \ primary forestry activities was introduced in the same way as for income from\
  \ other activities (actual income and expenditure), which requires proper bookkeeping\
  \ and the drawing up of annual reports, or actual income and normal expenditure,\
  \ which is a simplification for taxable persons with a smaller scale of business),\
  \ provided that the average total income of the members of the agricultural household\
  \ in the two preceding consecutive tax years from primary agricultural and primary\
  \ forestry activities exceeds 7 % of the total income of the members of the agricultural\
  \ household from primary agricultural and primary forestry activities.EUR 500.\n\
  As regards the conclusion of the farmers directly, which is stated by the proposer\
  \ with regard to taxation, namely the untaxed sale of products and services (tourist\
  \ farms), we note that this is incorrect or untrue. The activity of a tourist farm\
  \ is in the segment which is counted either under the flat-rate system for farmers\
  \ or under the basic system which applies to all taxable persons irrespective of\
  \ their activity. However, the activity of a tourist farm (agricultural or other\
  \ activity), which is not considered as a basic agricultural or basic forestry activity,\
  \ is always taxed under the system applicable to other activities.\n Response from\
  \ the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities\nIn the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia, the different treatment of farmers is mainly due to the\
  \ historical development of the country, the specific nature of farm work and the\
  \ environment, and the current agricultural policy in Slovenia and the European\
  \ Union. In view of the above, we are of the opinion that the issue raised requires\
  \ a comprehensive response from the competent ministry, i.e. the Ministry of Agriculture\
  \ and the Environment, as well as from the Slovenian Chamber of Agriculture and\
  \ Rural Economy, which represents the interests of its members in the adoption of\
  \ legislation in the field of agricultural policy.\nWe provide below an explanation\
  \ in the light of the legislation on pension and invalidity insurance:\nIn the past,\
  \ farmers' insurance was regulated outside the compulsory pension and invalidity\
  \ insurance. The 1972 Law on Old-Age Insurance for Farmers (Official Gazette of\
  \ the SRS, No 13/72) developed insurance for farmers outside the pension and invalidity\
  \ insurance system, which was not yet a genuine pension and invalidity insurance,\
  \ but only a special form of old-age insurance for farmers. Under this law, farmers\
  \ were assessed for pension and invalidity insurance contributions per farm rather\
  \ than per individual, and length of service could be credited to the holder of\
  \ the farm as well as to the spouse and members of the farm holding.\nThe Law on\
  \ Pension and Invalidity Insurance (Official Gazette of the SRS, No 27/83) included\
  \ farmers for the first time in a unified system of pension and invalidity insurance.\
  \ Until 1990, a farmer could retire according to the status he or she had at the\
  \ time of retirement, but from 1990 onwards, a farmer also had to meet a density\
  \ of 15 years of insurance.\nThe unified pension and invalidity insurance system\
  \ was a step closer to the objective of strengthening the economic viability of\
  \ farmers and equalising the position of workers and farmers. Under the current\
  \ arrangements, farmers, like other insured persons, are covered by a single pension\
  \ and invalidity insurance scheme based on the principle of reciprocity and intergenerational\
  \ solidarity. According to this principle, subjects ensure their material and social\
  \ security by paying contributions in accordance with their means and later, when\
  \ they fulfil the conditions, by claiming their rights. The principle of reciprocity\
  \ presupposes equality of insured persons and, on this basis, under equal conditions,\
  \ insured persons acquire rights in proportion to their contributions. The corrective\
  \ factor in this respect is solidarity, which is a specific feature of the insurance\
  \ system and is characterised by the fact that material and social security is also\
  \ provided to persons who, irrespective of their contribution, cannot, for objective\
  \ reasons, guarantee themselves a general level of material and social security.\n\
  \ "
response date: 2014-09-02
response due date: null
sent date: 2014-05-20
title: Equalisation of the status of farmer and s.p.
upvotes: 18
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/5902
