Capping energy prices: what not to forget in July
Another deadline for the evaluation and submission of reports on the assessment of excess financial benefits for the entire half of 2023 for large enterprises is approaching. The report for the January to June period must be submitted by 31 July 2023. At the same time, large enterprises not exceeding the maximum aid limit and wishing to remain in the capped energy price regime have to submit new declarations to their energy suppliers for each commodity by the same date. And another amendment to the decree regulating the price energy capping regime has been in effect since 30 June.
In the last issue of our Tax and Legal Update, we summarised our experience with the AIS MIT system and simultaneously provided some practical tips for the upcoming evaluation of financial benefits and the submission of the reports for the first half of 2023. According to information from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the obligation to submit the report applies to all large enterprises that consumed electricity or gas at capped prices in the period from 1 January 2023 regardless of whether they remained in the energy price capping regime in the following quarters.
In practice, this means that even if a large enterprise purchased electricity or gas at capped prices only in the first and not in the second or subsequent quarter, it still has to assess the financial benefit and submit the report to the ministry also for the second and third quarters and then submit a report for the whole year 2023 at year-end. According to the ministry, this is because the amount of the obtained financial benefit and of the maximum (permissible) financial benefit may change over time even if the large enterprise no longer consumes energy at capped prices, e.g., because of a change in the exchange rate or the amount of eligible energy supply costs (change in the average price of electricity/gas consumed in 2023).
At the same time, large enterprises not exceeding the maximum aid limit and wanting to remain in the price energy capping regime must submit new declarations to their energy suppliers for each commodity by 31 July 2023, all this in addition to submitting their reports to the ministry.
Moreover, on 30 June 2023, another amendment to the government decree was published in the Collection of Laws, which, e.g., further specifies the calculation of EBITDA, the method of deducting other subsidies received in 2022 and 2023 from the maximum permissible financial benefit, and the deadlines for adjusting facts or data in the report.
We will continue to monitor developments regarding capped prices and available interpretations. We will be happy to provide you with support in assessing your financial benefits or completing the assessment report should you be interested.