Tax and legal news

Since the beginning of the year, changes have been introduced in the taxation of employees and in the area of social security and health insurance. The maximum assessment base for social security contributions has been increased; thus, the limit for taxation at the higher tax rate of 23% has also been raised. A new discount on contributions for vulnerable employees has also been introduced. At the same time, after almost twenty years, the income limit for filing personal income tax returns has been significantly increased.

A new Income Tax Act guideline (D-59) replaced the original D-22 guideline as of January 2023. The new guideline mainly contains clarifications from recent case law and coordination committee decisions. In practice, however, there are no significant changes from the former version of the guideline.

EU Member States have agreed to introduce a minimum effective tax rate, and before Christmas the Directive on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large domestic groups came into force. Member States must implement it by the end of 2023.

The Regional Court in Prague judged the situation of a company that claimed interest on a bank loan for the purchase of a share in a Czech company with which it was subsequently to merge. The loan had been granted by a group of banks to an entire investment group, and the debt was subsequently transferred to the Czech company that had made the purchase of the shareholding.

The case concerned a taxpayer that had claimed on its income tax return the cost of consultancy services from its parent company, consisting mainly of management, advisory services, dealings and reporting.

According to the amendment to Road Tax Act, the road tax for passenger cars and buses was abolished and a tax advantage was introduced for the use of low-emission vehicles.