Financial transaction tax

What it means

Slovakia introduced a financial transaction tax in April 2025 on outgoing payments from business accounts. The rate is a percentage with a monthly cap per payment, and higher on cash withdrawals.

The tax office does not collect it from the company: the bank charges it on the payment and remits it. The company sees it on the bank statement as a separate movement, usually monthly.

It is not a bank fee, even though the bank takes it: the rate and base are set by law, and the bank merely collects and remits the tax. In the books it is therefore kept apart from bank charges, and unlike VAT it cannot be recovered; it simply reduces profit like any other deductible tax cost.

How it works in practice

In the books it is a deductible cost, but it must land in the right account and period to reconcile with the statement. At the monthly close it is checked against the bank’s summary, not an estimate.

For cash flow planning it is a small but steady cost proportional to the number of payments. Companies making many small transfers feel it more than those making a few large ones.

When we set up the books we give it its own analytical account, separate from bank charges. The owner then sees in the monthly report what the tax actually costs, and in an audit or inspection the figure can be matched to the bank’s summary at a glance.

What to watch out for

Moving payments to a foreign bank to dodge it does not work as expected: the obligation, reporting included, can pass to the company itself. Before switching banks, price the fees too.

Cash withdrawals carry a higher rate, so a company that regularly takes out cash for small purchases or wages pays more than it would by transfer. The habit is worth rethinking, not least because cash also means keeping a cash book and a document for every movement.