The Slovak Republic’s tax authorities have issued new guidance outlining the APA framework, including application procedures, eligible methods, filing fees, administrative stages, and rules for unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral arrangements.
The Slovak Republic’s tax authorities have issued guidance under No. 4/MZ/2026/MU on 23 September 2026 (the Slovak version was issued on 5 August 2026) that outlines the application process and regulatory framework for Advance Pricing Arrangements (APAs) pursuant to domestic tax legislation.
The guidance also details the procedural stages required for taxpayers to obtain advance approval for specific transfer pricing methods involving related-party transactions, ensuring alignment with the arm’s length principle and international standards.
Key statutory features include:
- Dispute prevention: Functions as a dispute prevention mechanism to provide certainty that proposed pricing meets the arm’s length principle.
- Eligible pricing methods: Taxpayers may apply for traditional transaction methods, transactional profit methods, a combination thereof, or any other appropriate method, provided it achieves a reliable arm’s length result.
Other key measures of the guidance are as follows:
Alignment with international standards
The guidance aligns Slovak administrative practices with international transfer pricing standards, including Article 9 of the OECD Model Tax Convention, the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines on Advance Pricing Arrangements, and EU Joint Transfer Pricing Forum recommendations.
Categories of APAs
Taxpayers in Slovakia can choose unilateral, bilateral, or multilateral APAs based on the jurisdictions involved. Bilateral and multilateral APAs are handled through the MAP under Article 25 of the OECD Model Tax Convention, with the Slovak Ministry of Finance negotiating with foreign tax authorities. These APAs help prevent economic double taxation and double non-taxation.
Scope of application & aggregation rules
An APA request is initiated solely by the taxpayer. The request must cover a single controlled transaction or a group of transactions assessed on an aggregated basis:
- Aggregation criteria: Controlled transactions may be grouped into a single request only if they are of a similar nature, executed under comparable conditions, closely linked, or involve comparable functions, assets, and risks. Aggregation must be fully justified within the transfer pricing documentation following Ministry of Finance guidelines.
- Separate requests: Transactions failing aggregation criteria require separate APA filings, each attracting an independent filing fee.
The 7-stage APA process
The Slovak APA procedure consists of seven administrative stages:
- Data collection: The taxpayer gathers the required financial, operational, and internal information.
- Pre-filing meeting: An optional but recommended discussion with the tax authority to address filing requirements and potential issues.
- Submission of request: The taxpayer files the APA request at least 60 days before the relevant tax period, including transaction details, transfer pricing documentation, methodology, and critical assumptions.
- Payment monitoring: The tax authority verifies payment of the required filing fees.
- Analysis and evaluation: The authority assesses the proposed methodology and benchmarking for arm’s-length compliance and may request adjustments.
- Decision or notice: An APA generally applies for up to five tax periods, with possible extensions. Bilateral and multilateral APAs may have longer terms and allow rollback. Decisions are effective from the start of the requested period and cannot be appealed.
- Monitoring, changes, or revocation: The tax authority monitors compliance with critical assumptions. Changes may result in prospective amendment or revocation, while false information can lead to retroactive revocation.
Filing fees, reliability reductions, & payment details
Under Section 18(7), APA filing fees are EUR 10,000 for unilateral APAs and EUR 30,000 for bilateral or multilateral APAs. Taxpayers with a “highly reliable” tax reliability rating receive a 50% discount, reducing the fees to EUR 5,000 and EUR 15,000, respectively.
Payment rules
APA fees are payable upon submission and are charged regardless of the outcome. If unpaid, the taxpayer receives a 15-day period to make payment, after which the application is deemed not filed, and any partial payment is refunded. However, fees are non-refundable if the APA request is rejected after formal review.
