News in brief, May 2022

DOMESTIC NEWS

• Instruction No. GFD-D-57 on the location of files or their relevant parts at the tax authorities or the territorial offices of the tax authorities was published in Financial Bulletin of the Ministry of Finance No. 7/2022.
• The GFD has published selected questions on the amendment to the Accounting Act concerning the submission of financial statements to the Collection of Deeds through the income tax administrator. The questions and answers relate to the published information on the amendment to the Act on Accounting by Act No 609/2020 Coll.
• The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has launched the Smart Migration app for people fleeing the war in Ukraine. It offers the most important information about employment, healthcare, and education in Ukrainian, English, and Russian.
•  The chamber of deputies has approved a bill extending income tax allowances for donations made in connection with the invasion of Ukraine. The bill will be discussed by the senate. You can find more information here.
• Act No. 93/2022, amending the Excise Duty Act and the Value Added Tax Act, was published in the Collection of Laws on 26 April 2022, implementing the EU Alcohol and Defence Directives.

FOREIGN NEWS

• At its meeting on 5 April 2022, the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) once again failed to reach agreement on the revised proposal for an EU minimum tax directive to introduce a global minimum tax (OECD Pillar 2) within the EU. The new compromise text postpones the effective date of the Income Inclusion Rule and the Undertaxed Payment Rule to 1 January 2024 and 1 January 2025, respectively. Member states not having more than 12 ultimate parent companies falling under the Directive will be able to opt out of the global minimum tax until the end of 2029. The Czech Republic will probably not be affected by this exemption, as current preliminary estimates suggest that there may be more than 12 ultimate parent companies. The proposal will be discussed again at the meeting of 25 May 2022. More information here.
• The OECD has published the comments it received from the public in connection with its commentary on the rules for the introduction of a global minimum tax (OECD Pillar 2). KPMG also provided comments. More detailed information is available here.
• The OECD has published comments it received from the public in response to the publication of the draft rules for determining Amount A (allocation of the share of profits in countries where services are sold or consumed) under Pillar 1. KPMG also provided comments. For more information, see the KPMG report.
• The OECD has submitted for public consultation rules for excluding extractive industries from the Pillar 1 framework for the purpose of determining Amount A to be taxed in the market country. More information can be found here.
• The European Commission is asking for public consultation on new rules for the application of withholding taxes within the EU.
• On 6 April 2022, the European Commission issued a Commission Implementing Regulation providing essential details for payment service providers on how to report payment data in a harmonised format.
• The European Commission has published recommendations on how to improve VAT collection and make life easier for businesses.