Area: Finance
Competent authority: MF
EZU URL: .nan
Initiative ID: 228
Initiative accepted and completed: '2013-10-29'
Initiative classified in EZU: .nan
Initiative forwarded in response: '2013-10-24'
Initiative published: '2013-10-24'
Initiative submitted: '2013-10-24'
Response from the competent authority: 'Reply from the Ministry of Finance, Tax Administration
  of the Republic of Slovenia: We have already written to the Ministry of Finance
  regarding the procedure for issuing and implementing the so-called pre-registration
  control for issuing VAT IDs in our letter No DT 007-49/2013 (01-810-06)-02 of 19
  March 2013, at the request of the then Ministry of Justice and Public Administration
  regarding the proposal for administrative relief or simplification of the procedures
  of the "Initiative 92" - eVEM points - a proposal to reduce the statutory time limit
  for the issuance of VAT IDs to two working days.In that letter, which we assume
  you are aware of from the Ministry of Finance, we have described in detail the reasons
  for the implementation of controls prior to the VAT ID, and therefore we do not
  repeat it again in this letter, which we send to you as an attachment.With regard
  to the discriminatory treatment of foreign nationals by the Tax Administration in
  the process of obtaining VAT IDs, we would like to clarify that the Tax Administration
  has already issued guidelines for the implementation of controls prior to the issuance
  of VAT IDs and for the termination of ex officio identification for VAT in 2007.
  The guidelines describe the procedures for pre-registration controls and also set
  out the risk indicators, currently around 30, on the basis of which the risk level
  of a VAT ID application is determined, which in turn also entails certain measures
  in the VAT ID issuance process (additional requests for data, information, on-the-spot
  checks, etc.). Therefore, the determination of the risk and thus the level of pre-registration
  control is not based on a single indicator, namely that the founder is not a citizen
  of the Republic of Slovenia. The tax authority therefore determines the level of
  pre-registration control on the basis of all the risk indicators that we have in
  the system for determining the risk of VAT ID applications. Then, on the basis of
  an assessment of each piece of evidence individually and of all the evidence taken
  together in the pre-registration procedure, the tax authority decides whether or
  not to issue a VAT identification number. It should be noted that the time limit
  for the tax authority to decide on an application for a VAT identification number
  is set out in the fourth paragraph of Article 130. Article 130 of the Regulation
  on the implementation of the Law on Value Added Tax (hereinafter: VATI), according
  to which the tax authority must decide on the application no later than by the last
  day of the month following the month in which the application is submitted. In the
  case of taxable persons not established in Slovenia, Article 131 of the VAT Act
  sets different (special) deadlines. The deadline for issuing a VAT identification
  number set out in Article 130 of the VAT Act is therefore the deadline by which
  the tax authority must decide on the issue of the identification number and within
  which it may carry out all the procedures necessary to establish the eligibility
  for the issue of a VAT identification number.However, according to our records,
  from 1 January 2010 to 28 February 2013, DURS identified 30,944 VAT taxable persons
  and the average time from the receipt of the application to the issue of the VAT
  ID was 12 days. For example, in the last year and a half alone, more than 800 refusal
  decisions were issued because taxable persons did not provide the relevant supporting
  documents, did not prove the purpose of their activity or did not provide the appropriate
  insurance instrument (as also indicated in the attached letter).It is also clear
  from the case-law of the CJEU (judgment C-527/11 of 14.3.2013) that Member States
  have a certain degree of discretion in adopting measures to ensure the identification
  of VAT taxable persons and that they must ensure that the entries in the register
  of taxable persons are correct in order to enable the VAT system to function properly.
  Thus, also according to the CJEU, the competent national authority must verify the
  taxable person''s status before assigning him a VAT identification number. It should
  be noted, however, that the control measures must not restrict the right of taxable
  persons to deduct VAT due or paid on investments for the purposes of the transactions
  which they intend to carry out and which are subject to the right to deduct. At
  the same time, it should be noted that, as is apparent from the case-law, which
  is also applied by the tax authorities, the registration of a taxable person in
  the VAT register is a formal requirement, so that a taxable person cannot be prevented
  from exercising his right to deduct on the ground that he did not register as a
  taxable person for VAT purposes before he used the goods purchased in the course
  of his taxable activity. On the basis of the above, we consider that our control
  procedures prior to the issue of a VAT ID are in no way discriminatory against foreigners,
  since they are based on a set of objective criteria and not only on the fact that
  the founder of the company is a foreigner. Nor, as the above-mentioned CJEU judgment
  also shows, are our pre-ID control procedures in breach of EU rules. Given that
  the number of requests for identification is high, between 500 and 800 per month,
  based on one or a few cases where foreigners have been issued with a VAT ID later
  than other taxable persons, it cannot be argued that there is any discriminatory
  treatment.'
Text file: 228.txt
Title: Obtaining a VAT ID number
URL: https://www.stopbirokraciji.gov.si/pobuda/?st=228
