Croatia will adopt starting 1 January 2021 EU directive regarding tax evasion

published on 20 August 2020 | reading time approx. 1 minute

Directive 2018/822 / EU, better known as DAC-6, is being introduced in Croatia legislation in the field of taxation and applies from 1 January 2021.

The Directive concerns the exchange of information between members EU that could point to tax evasion. Namely, the Tax Administration will need to submit data on cross-border arrangements containing at least one feature that warns of the risk of tax evasion. The Directive does not apply to VAT, customs duties and mandatory contributions insurance. For an arrangement to be considered cross-border, it is sufficient meet one of the following criteria:

• One of the participants within the arrangement has a different tax resident status;
• Permanent establishment which is associated with one of the participants of arrangement was established within a different legal framework, i.e. another jurisdiction, and the arrangement is part of the business of a permanent establishment;
• At least one of the participants in the arrangement performs activities within the other state, and has no domicile or permanent establishment within that State
• Such an arrangement has an impact on the automatic exchange of information on real property

Cross-border tax plans can apply to all taxpayers, including natural persons, legal entities and legal arrangements (i.e. trusts and foundation). Deadlines for submission of information on cross - border arrangements which are prescribed in Article 35.f paragraphs 1 and 2 and Article 35 and paragraph 2 of the Law on administrative cooperation in the field of taxes begin to run from 1 January 2021 for:

• cross-border arrangements made available to them implementation, or which are ready for implementation, or whose first step is in implementation made between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2020
• intermediaries who have provided, directly or through other persons support, assistance or advice in the period from 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2020

On cross - border arrangements for which the first steps have been taken in period from 25 June 2018 to 30 June 2020 intermediaries and tax taxpayers are obliged to notify the Tax Administration by 28 February 2021 year, while intermediaries are obliged to inform the Tax Administration about market arrangements via the first periodic report until 30 April 2021.

Reporting entities are primarily the persons who designed the arrangement or participated in the implementation and are called intermediaries (e.g. tax and financial advisors). However, the taxpayer may have an obligation. The tax administration will need to report to the arrangement even before its implementation.