Changes to excise duties from 2025
The government has approved a draft amendment to the Excise Duty Act, which introduces several key changes aimed to reduce the administrative burden for taxpayers, increase legal certainty on the market for selected products, and increase the efficiency of the excise duty collection process. The reasons for preparing this amendment are experience from application practice, case law, and the need to respond to new implementing regulations in EU legislation.
The main motivation for the amendment was the desire to remove legal uncertainties and reduce bureaucracy, which should make it easier for entrepreneurs to do business and at the same time enable tax administrators to administer taxes more efficiently. These changes include, e.g., extending the digitisation of certain processes, which will lead to faster and more transparent communication between taxpayers and tax administrators. However, we will see changes in almost all parts of the law: in some sections these will only be cosmetic and stylistic changes, but in others, these will have an impact on the substance of the law. For example, the amendment changes the assessment and classification of small and independent breweries.
In view of the changes in EU legislation, the amendment aims to signficiantly streamline the direct collection and refund of excise duties. This includes, e.g., changes to the processes for refunding the excise duty to persons enjoying privileges and immunities, which should greatly simplify and speed up the process. On the other hand, the current deadlines for the refund of the duty on mineral oils to persons using mineral oil for heat production will be shortened: it will only be possible to apply for a refund of excise duty on such oils within three months of the date the entitlement arises, instead of the current six months.
Another area that the amendment is to change is the storage and sale of raw tobacco and the abolition of the ‘sell-out period‘ for cigarettes and heated tobacco products upon a change in the excise duty rate. A relatively welcome change is the reduction of the administrative burden for waste mineral oils: the obligation to prove the economic stability of the applicant for a permit to acquire the selected excide duty-exempt products has been done away with. The conditions for the transport of exempt waste oils will also be amended.
The amendment to the Excise Duty Act thus represents a significant step towards modernising the tax system in line with EU regulations with an impact on tax administration efficiency. It can be expected that the proposed changes, which were also subject to comments by the Chamber of Tax Advisors, will positively affect both the state budget and taxpayers. The draft amendment is currently in the legislative process as Print No. 736 in the chamber of deputies.