The Income Tax Act (Official Gazette No. 9/12 – odl. US, 24/12, 30/12, 40/12 – ZUJF, 75/12, 94/12, 52/13 – odl. US, 96/13, 29/14 – odl. US in 50/14) encompassesan incentive to designate 0.5% of tax to purposes of public interest (culture included). The new law, which came in force in 2013 didn’t change anything in this regard. The Corporate Income Tax Act (117/06, 56/08, 76/08, 5/09, 96/09, 110/09 – ZDavP-2B, 43/10, 59/11, 24/12, 30/12, 94/12, 81/13, and 50/14) introduced a 0.3% deduction for donations to various good causes and also a special deduction for culture of 0.2% of taxable income, with the possibility of averaging over a three year period.
The new Income Tax Act that came into force in 2013 significantly changed the situation for those self-employed in culture. Until then the individual self-employed artist calculated his / her income tax with inclusion of 25% of “normed costs” (average of his costs; accounts do not need to be officially audited) and several allowances: general; special; for maintained children; for maintained children, needing special care and protection; for any other maintained family member; for 100% invalidity; and an age allowance. In 2013 and after, the law allows 70% of “normed costs”, while cancelling all the allowances. It was calculated in a study by Asociacija (the Association of Slovenian Journalists and Open Chamber for Contemporary Art) that this system will lead to significant additional costs for those self-employed in culture, reducing their average yearly income by approximately 600 EUR. Despite several attempts by those self-employed to change the propositions of the law, the law remained unchanged, until the Minister for Culture, Uroš Grilc, in his 2013 Changes to the Act Regulating the Realisation of the Public Interest in the Field of Culture, adopted two measures to reduce the effects of these measures: the possibility of free accountancy for those self-employed in culture; and so-called ”pocket money” – special small grants to (a small group of) those self-employed to improve their material conditions. The real effects of those small-scale measures remain to be seen and it remains unclear whether they contributed anything at all to the situation of those self-employed in culture.
VAT was introduced on 1 June 1999. The reduced rate (currently at 9.5% since 2014) is used to tax books, while CDs and videocassettes attract the normal VAT rate of 22% due to harmonisation with EU Directives. The reduced rate also applies to cinema tickets and entertainment events. Cultural services of non-profit cultural organisations are exempt from paying VAT. The same right can be extended to artists if their turnover does not exceed ca. 25 000 EUR per year and if they decide that they prefer to be exempt; a seemingly difficult decision.Gifts to museums, libraries and archives are exempt from excise duty.
Comments are closed.