VAT and invoicing in Slovakia (2026): rates and e-invoicing

Slovakia changed its VAT more in 2025 and 2026 than in the previous decade: a new standard rate of 23%, a new 19% reduced rate, a threshold measured per calendar year and, from 1 January 2027, mandatory electronic invoicing between businesses. This guide explains what a small business in Slovakia needs to know: the rates, when you must register, how and when to file, what an invoice must contain and how to prepare for e-invoicing. Rates and dates are as of October 2026.

Slovak VAT at a glance

The tax is daň z pridanej hodnoty (DPH), governed by Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on VAT (zákon o dani z pridanej hodnoty) and administered by the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic (Finančná správa SR) through the tax offices (daňový úrad).

The rate depends on the exact product and its customs classification, so check each item. Supplies of some goods and services between two Slovak VAT payers, such as construction work and scrap metal, fall under the domestic reverse charge: you invoice without VAT and your customer accounts for it.

Who must register for VAT

Since 1 January 2025 the threshold is measured per calendar year for businesses established in Slovakia:

• EUR 50,000: if your turnover (without VAT) in a calendar year exceeds EUR 50,000, you become a VAT payer (platiteľ dane) on 1 January of the following year.
• EUR 62,500: if your turnover exceeds EUR 62,500 during the current year, you become a VAT payer with the supply that takes you over it.
• Voluntary registration is possible below the threshold.
• Bank accounts: when you register, you must notify the tax office of all business bank accounts used for activities linked to your Slovak VAT registration.
• Foreign businesses without a seat or establishment in Slovakia no longer register in advance; they become VAT payers when they make a taxable supply in Slovakia, subject to a notification duty.

Your VAT identification number is the IČ DPH, which begins with SK.

VAT returns, payment and the control statement

• Quarterly periods: you may switch to quarterly returns once more than 12 calendar months have passed since the end of the month you became a VAT payer, and if your turnover in the previous 12 consecutive months was below EUR 100,000. Notify the tax office within 25 days after the end of the month in which you met the conditions.
• The control statement lists data from each invoice you issued and from each invoice you received and deducted (the customer's or supplier's IČ DPH, the invoice number, the date of supply, the tax base and the VAT), so the Financial Administration can match both sides. Simplified invoices are not listed one by one.
• The end of the control statement: the Financial Administration has announced that the control statement and the EC sales list (súhrnný výkaz) will be abolished from 1 July 2030, when invoice data will be reported in near real time instead.

Invoices: what Slovak law requires

§ 74(1) of the VAT Act lists what an invoice must contain:

1. 1the name and address of the supplier and its IČ DPH
2. 2the name and address of the customer and its IČ DPH (where it has one)
3. 3a sequential invoice number (poradové číslo)
4. 4the date of supply or of the payment received, if it differs from the invoice date
5. 5the invoice date
6. 6the quantity and type of goods, or the scope and type of service
7. 7the tax base for each rate, the unit price without VAT and any discounts not included in it
8. 8the VAT rate, or the exemption with a reference to the law or the words “dodanie je oslobodené od dane”
9. 9the total VAT in euros
10. 10where they apply, the words “prenesenie daňovej povinnosti” for a reverse-charge supply, or “vyhotovenie faktúry odberateľom” for self-billing

When to issue: within 15 days of the supply or of receiving an advance payment (§ 73). For exempt intra-EU supplies of goods and for B2B services taxed in another EU country, the 15 days run from the end of the month.

Simplified invoices (§ 74(3)) may leave out the customer's details and the unit price:

• any document for a sale of up to EUR 100 including VAT
• a receipt from an eKasa cash register, or from an unattended fuel pump paid by card, of up to EUR 400 including VAT

Corrections: any document that changes the original invoice and refers to it specifically and unambiguously counts as an invoice itself (§ 71(2)). When the tax base changes, for example after a discount or a return, issue a corrective invoice within 15 days from the end of the month in which the reason arose, quoting the original invoice number and the changed details.

Foreign currency: the VAT must be shown in euros. Convert foreign currency at the ECB or National Bank of Slovakia reference rate of the day before the tax point, or at the customs rate if you notified the tax office in advance (§ 26).

Record keeping: keep copies of issued invoices and the invoices you received for 10 years after the year they relate to (§ 76). If an invoice is in a foreign language, the tax office may ask for a Slovak translation.

E-invoicing from 1 January 2027

Slovakia's amended VAT Act makes structured electronic invoicing the default way to invoice between businesses:

How it works:

• An e-invoice is a structured XML file under the European standard EN 16931 (UBL or CII), not a PDF or a scan.
• Invoices travel over the Peppol network through a certified delivery service provider (the Financial Administration calls it a “digital postman”). You choose and contract the provider; small businesses can use a provider's web or mobile app.
• When you issue an e-invoice, the invoice data is reported to the Financial Administration through your provider. When you receive one, the data must be reported within 5 days. Missing or wrong reports can be fined up to EUR 10,000, and up to EUR 100,000 for repeated breaches.
• The recipient's consent is no longer needed where an e-invoice is mandatory, and the 15-day deadline still applies.
• Out of scope: invoices to consumers (B2C), exempt supplies, and simplified invoices up to EUR 100 or eKasa receipts up to EUR 400. Supplies by businesses registered in Slovakia but not established there are outside the 2027 obligation.

To issue and receive e-invoices you need a certified delivery service provider. Clientlly is not a certified provider and does not connect to the Slovak e-invoicing system, so plan that part with a provider from the Financial Administration's list.

Worked example in euros

A graphic designer in Bratislava, a monthly VAT payer, invoices a client in September:

In the same month she buys a laptop for EUR 1,200.00 plus EUR 276.00 VAT (23%) and two nights' accommodation for a client shoot for EUR 200.00 plus EUR 10.00 VAT (5%), so her input VAT is EUR 286.00.

• Output VAT: EUR 1,150.00
• Input VAT: EUR 286.00
• VAT payable within 25 days after September: EUR 1,150.00 − EUR 286.00 = EUR 864.00

To find the VAT inside a gross price at 23%, multiply by 23 and divide by 123: EUR 6,150 × 23 ÷ 123 = EUR 1,150.

Late payment between businesses

Under the Commercial Code and Government Regulation No. 21/2013 Coll.:

• Default interest is the ECB's main refinancing rate valid on the first day of the relevant calendar half-year, plus 8 percentage points, recalculated each half-year. Instead, the creditor may choose the ECB rate valid on the first day of delay plus 9 percentage points, fixed for the whole delay.
• Flat compensation for recovery costs is EUR 40 per claim, however long the delay.

Put your payment terms on every invoice, and remind customers early.

Common mistakes

1. 1Using last year's rate. The 2025 and 2026 changes moved many items between 5%, 19% and 23%, especially food.
2. 2Missing the EUR 62,500 limit: above it you are a VAT payer from that very supply, not from next year.
3. 3Forgetting “prenesenie daňovej povinnosti” on domestic reverse-charge and EU B2B invoices.
4. 4Issuing invoices late: the deadline is 15 days, also once e-invoicing starts.
5. 5Waiting until December 2026 to choose an e-invoicing provider. Remember that you must also be able to receive e-invoices from 1 January 2027.
6. 6Mismatches in the control statement, such as a wrong IČ DPH or invoice number.
7. 7Converting foreign currency at the wrong date: use the rate of the day before the tax point.

How Clientlly helps

Clientlly brings invoicing, expenses and VAT records together:

• sequential invoice numbering per series and the VAT rates of your organisation's country on every invoice
• credit notes linked to the original invoice
• invoice PDFs in your client's language, multiple currencies and a card payment link on the invoice
• you see when an invoice was opened, and automatic reminders go out 3, 14 and 30 days after the due date
• recurring invoices, and scanning receipts with the VAT read automatically
• sales and purchase VAT books per rate, including exports, reverse charge and intra-EU purchases, with VAT reports for you and your accountant and Excel and PDF exports
• importing clients, suppliers, products and opening balances from Excel or CSV, and a mobile app

For the e-invoices that become mandatory in 2027 you will need a certified delivery service provider; Clientlly is not one. See the invoicing features, the accounting module and our guide to getting paid faster.