Holiday Vouchers in practice - Slovakia 2019

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In case you have a company with more than 49 employees and your employee is working for you more than two years, you are obliged under the new legislation valid from January 2019 to pay him a holiday allowance in case he has spent at least 2 nights in a hotel on the territory of Slovakia. This allowance is a per year maximum 275€ or maximum 55% of the effective costs stated on the invoice for such stay.

This step will have again a deep impact on the salary budget of companies without any contribution of the state and for the sake of hotel owners in Slovakia. Together with the lower VAT for hotel and recreation services, it can be a very interesting year in the segment. The promoters of this new regulation from the National party of Slovakia mentioned as inspiration Austria, Hungary or France where the system had a great success. On the other hand it will have for sure negative impact on the business environment and speculations with rewards of the employees or splitting bigger companies on branches with less than 49 employees.

Employers can choose between 2 possibilities. First is a system of electronic cards charged with 275€ per employee to reduce the administration in the company. Second is an artificial approach by registering, verifying and confirming invoices brought by employees. The question in case of electronic cards are even more costs due to to ordering and evidence of cards and of course a certain fee to the provider of the electronic system.
With the artificial approach, employees can enjoy also more freedom because for the electronic system the hotel must be registered in the network of the provider. This will be especially in the first year a problem and people may be confused where they can really use their voucher.

The only condition in order to be eligible to get a voucher besides the fact that the company must have more than 49 employees is that the person must be working in the company more than 2 years. F.e. in case an employee will be 2 years in the company on December 15th, he is automatically eligible for the full value of an voucher from 16th of December. In case an employee works half-time he or she is eligible only on 50%.. 138€.

These are the 2 conditions to be eligible in the material way. The second part is to follow the procedure written by law.

1. First, make a request at your employer
2. At least 2 nights spent in Slovakia
3. Name of the employee on the invoice
4. The employer must receive the invoice latest in 30 days

Vouchers can be used also for other persons who are attending with you.. children, partners or other persons living together with you. The purpose of the vouchers can be also related to summer camps for your children.

In case you would like to have more information or complete support please don't hesitate and contact us.