Area: Finance
Competent authority: MF
EZU URL: .nan
Initiative ID: 342
Initiative accepted and completed: '2014-07-17'
Initiative classified in EZU: .nan
Initiative forwarded in response: '2014-06-03'
Initiative published: '2014-06-03'
Initiative submitted: '2014-05-29'
Response from the competent authority: 'Response from the Ministry of Finance: At
  the outset, we consider that the case at hand is a matter within the scope of the
  Ministry of Justice, given that the question relates to the implementation of the
  Law on Succession as well as the Law on Private International Law and Procedure,
  and also EU law. Notwithstanding the above, we submit our position, stating the
  legal bases on which the petitioner did not obtain tax treatment of the foreign
  succession decision. The Law on Succession (LOD) provides that the courts of the
  Republic of Slovenia shall have exclusive jurisdiction to deal with the succession
  of a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia in respect of his immovable property located
  in the Republic of Slovenia. The determination of the type of law to be applied
  to personal, family, labour, social, property and other civil law relationships
  with an international element is governed by the Law on Private International Law
  and Procedure - ZMPP (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 56/99 and
  45/08-ZArbit). The Law contains rules on the jurisdiction of courts and other authorities
  of the Republic of Slovenia, rules of procedure, and rules for the recognition and
  enforcement of foreign judgments, arbitral awards, and decisions of other authorities.
  Thus, Article 80 of the ZMPP provides that the court of the Republic of Slovenia
  shall have exclusive jurisdiction to deal with the immovable property of a foreign
  national if the immovable property is located in the Republic of Slovenia. The Law
  on Inheritance and Gift Taxes - ZDDD (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia,
  No 117/06) regulates inheritance and gift tax and provides in Article 2 that the
  subject of taxation under this Law is property received by a natural person from
  a natural or legal person as an inheritance and is not considered as income under
  the law governing income tax. The tax liability shall arise on the date on which
  the decision on inheritance becomes final. The heirs do not file a tax return, but
  the court sends the final order of succession ex officio to the competent tax office,
  the information of which is the basis for the assessment of inheritance tax. In
  view of the above, the tax authority does not receive foreign inheritance tax notices
  (even if they are from an EU Member State) in the course of the inheritance tax
  procedure and does not issue decisions on the basis of these notices on the assessment
  of the inheritance tax liability. This is not possible even in cases where there
  is an exemption from tax due to the classification of the heirs in the first order
  of succession.This is confirmed by the provisions of the MLPC, which also govern
  the jurisdiction for dealing with the estate of a foreign national. We have also
  consulted Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition
  and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. Chapter I, which governs
  the scope of application of this Regulation, provides in Article 1, inter alia,
  that this Regulation shall not apply to the personal situation or legal capacity
  of natural persons, to property relations arising out of marriage, wills and successions.
  Response from the Ministry of Justice: The Ministry of Justice''s explanations below
  refer to issues falling within its competence, i.e. international jurisdiction of
  courts and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, but the Ministry has
  no competence to provide information on tax matters or to carry out the tasks of
  the tax authorities. Assuming that the real estate in question in the present case
  is located in the territory of the Republic of Slovenia, the Slovenian courts have
  exclusive jurisdiction to conduct inheritance proceedings in respect of that real
  estate pursuant to the Inheritance Act (Journal of Laws of the SRS, No 15/76 et
  seq.) (''the Inheritance Act'') (hereinafter ''the Inheritance Act''). Article 176
  of the Law on Succession provides that a court in the Republic of Slovenia shall
  have exclusive jurisdiction to deal with the succession of a citizen of the Republic
  of Slovenia in respect of his immovable property located in the Republic of Slovenia.
  The same provision (Article 79) is also contained in the Law on Private International
  Law and Procedure (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 79, item 1).
  Even if the deceased was not a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia, pursuant to
  Article 80 of the ZMZPP, the court of the Republic of Slovenia has exclusive jurisdiction
  to deal with the immovable property of a foreign citizen if the immovable property
  is located in the Republic of Slovenia. In order to avoid situations such as yours,
  Regulation No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012
  on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and the
  admissibility and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession
  and creating a European Certificate of Succession (Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:201:0107:0134:SL:PDF)
  was adopted at the level of the European Union with a view to, among other things,
  the mutual recognition of decisions rendered in the Member States of the European
  Union in matters of succession. This means that a decision given in one Member State
  is recognised in the other Member States without any special procedure being required
  for recognition. The Regulation also lays down uniform rules on the international
  jurisdiction of courts in matters of succession. It should be noted that the Regulation
  is directly applicable in both the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia,
  but in most of its provisions as of 17.8.2015, which means that until then, the
  national provisions of the laws of both countries apply to questions of international
  jurisdiction of courts. As already mentioned, in the specific case described above,
  in the Republic of Slovenia these are the ZD and ZMZPP. As regards the issue of
  recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, this issue is regulated between
  the two countries by the Treaty between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic
  of Croatia on Legal Assistance in Civil and Criminal Matters, concluded on 7 February
  1994 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia - International Treaties, No.
  10/94).'
Text file: 342.txt
Title: Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments
URL: https://www.stopbirokraciji.gov.si/pobuda/?st=342
