Your guide to doing business in Slovakia
Located between the East and West, Slovakia shares borders with five countries, making it a favourable geographic location with great export potential. Given its political and economic stability and still being a relatively young country, Slovakia is an ideal investment environment. Part of the common EU market, Slovakia has a simple and competitive taxation system, a highly skilled and educated workforce and is one of the fastest growing Eurozone members with the lowest external debt.
A company is typically required to have a legal entity established in order to carry out business in Slovakia. All businesses must be registered with the Slovak Commercial Register, the legal forms available are:
The above business entities must be registered to the Slovak Commercial Register and must have the following documents in order to register:
Foreigners are required to hold a temporary residence permit before they can be entered as a statutory representative in the Commercial Register.
It is not mandatory to make payments to both employees and the authorities from an in-country bank account.
Banks are generally open to the public from Monday to Friday, 8am – 5pm. Most banks are closed on a Saturday.
The working week in Slovakia is Monday to Friday, working 8 hours per day. Employees are entitled to a 30-minute break after working 4 hours, this break is not paid for.
General Information
Full Name: Slovak Republic
Population: 5.45 million (Eurostat, 2019)
Capital: Bratislava
Major Languages: Slovak (Official), English
Monetary Unit: Euro (1 euro = 100 cents)
Main Exports: Automotive, electrical machinery, iron, steel, mineral fuels including oil and plastics
GNI Per Capita: US $ 33,060 (World Bank, 2018)
Internet Domain: .sk
International Dialling Code: +421
Hello Ahoj
Good Morning Dobré ráno
Good Evening Dobrý večer
Do You Speak English? Hovoríš po anglicky?
Goodbye Zbohom
Thank You Ďakujem
See You Later Vidíme sa neskôr
Dates are usually written in the day, month and year sequence. For example, 1 June 2022 or 1/6/22.
Numbers are written with a period to denote thousands and a comma to denote fractions. For example, €1.234, 56 (one thousand, two hundred and thirty-four euros and fifty-six cents). The euro symbol appears before the numbers.
The Slovak tax year runs from 1st January to 31st December.
The tax rates applicable for income derived in 2022 are:
The non-taxable part of the tax base will be EUR 4,579.26 in 2022.
Social Security is mandatory for all employees working in Slovakia, unless they have an exemption under the EU rules or under a social security treaty between Slovakia and the country in which they pay contributions. Employers in Slovakia are responsible for deducting income tax and social security contributions from the employee’s wage.
You may work in Slovakia with no restrictions provided you are a citizen of the countries within the European Economic Area and Switzerland (EEA citizens). If the worker stays in Slovakia for longer than three months, they must register with the Slovak Foreigner police office. Anyone else wishing to work in Slovakia must apply for a work permit and temporary residence before arriving in Slovakia.
Employers are responsible for registering a new employee. The employer must inform the healthcare authorities within eight working days of the commencement of employment. The employee must be registered with the social authority before their first day of official employment.
An employee’s position can be terminated due to a number of reasons, these include immediate termination (if the employee is proven guilty of any deliberate criminal offences or found to be in serious breach of work discipline), by mutual agreement or during probation.
If an employee chooses to leave a company, a minimum of one months’ notice must be given if the employee has worked for the company for less than one year, a period of two months must be given for employees employed for longer than one year.
The social and health authorities must be notified of any leavers.
It is legally acceptable in Slovakia to provide employees with online payslips.
Payroll reports must be kept for 5 – 50 years.