News in brief, June 2022

DOMESTIC NEWS

• Social enterprises can apply for zero-interest loans until the middle of next year. Support under the S-Enterprise programme financed from EU funds has been prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in cooperation with the National Development Bank.

• The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has announced two special subsidy calls for children's groups, allowing them to draw on European funds to quickly create new capacities and respond to the growing demand for child placements in preschool facilities. The ministry has allocated CZK 400 million that could be used to create up to 2,800 placements.

• From June, compensation replacing earnings after work-related injuries or occupational diseases will increase. The amounts will be adjusted by 8.2 percent of the average earnings from which these compensations are calculated. This was published in the Collection of Laws as Government Decree No. 138/2022 Coll.

• EU member states have passed the EU Data Governance Act intended to improve the conditions for sharing data in the internal market, making it easier and more efficient to share personal and non-personal data within the EU. It will become effective in summer 2023.

• An amendment to the Excise Duty Act has been published in the Collection of Laws under No. 131/2022, temporarily reducing the excise duty on diesel and unleaded petrol by CZK 1.50 per litre, effective from 1 June to 30 September 2022.

•  The Act on Tax Measures in Connection with the Armed Conflict in Ukraine caused by the Invasion of the Russian Federation, which extends the tax deductibility of donations made in support of Ukraine, was published in the Collection of Laws under No. 128/2022.

•  The president has signed a bill amending Act No. 586/1992 Coll., on Income Tax, Act No. 16/1993 Coll., on Road Tax, and Act No. 201/2012 Coll., on Air Protection, which introduces partial support for electromobility in the form of income tax relief, the partial abolition of road tax, and the abolition of the obligation to add bio-components to fuel.

• A notice of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs announcing the amount corresponding to 50% of the average monthly wage for the purposes of life and subsistence minimum and the amount of 50% and 25% of the average monthly wage in the national economy for the purposes of state social support, was published in the Collection of Laws under No. 127/2022 Coll.

• Decree No. 116/2022 Coll., amending Decree No. 511/2021 Coll. modifying the rate of basic compensation for the use of road motor vehicles and meal allowances and determining the average price of fuel for the purpose of providing travel allowances, was published in the Collection of Laws. The decree responds to increased fuel prices on the market.

FOREIGN NEWS

• At its meeting on 5 April 2022, the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) did not discuss the originally tabled proposal for an EU minimum tax directive, harmonising the introduction of a global minimum tax (OECD Pillar 1) across the EU. The proposal is now likely to be discussed at the 17 June 2022 meeting, possibly during the Czech presidency of the EU Council.

• The OECD has put forward for public discussion rules to exclude regulated financial services from the first pillar framework (allocation of part of the profits from the sale of goods or consumption of services to countries of sale or consumption).

• The OECD has published two additional documents on Pillar 1 for public discussion: the first one concerns the rules for determining Amount A to be taxed in the country of sale; the second one deals with the process of resolving disputes between the country of sale and the country in which profits have so far been reported under the existing rules. More detailed information can be found here.