Računovodstvo, revizija i financije 2/2015

There have been certain changes regarding determination of the quotas, which is now 3%, and does not depend on the NKD, as it has been the case so far. Besides, certain exemptions from the total number of the employed persons at the particular working places have been determined, including the way how to act in the case when certain working positionsrequire the exemption from their total number.

As of 1 January 2015 the field of VAT taxation introduced an important new provision regarding the determination of the VAT liability, which provides the possibility of tax payment according to the collected payments for all the tax payers, i.e. income makers and profit makers, who realized the turnover of HRK 3,000,000.00 in the previous accounting period. This means that the above stated benefit does not apply to independent crafts businesses anymore, who are income tax payers, which was the case until the end of 2014. The first VAT return form for January 2015 should be submitted according to the new regulations until 20 February 2015. They should provide all the necessary data for the correct, regular and timely calculation and payment of VAT. The article presents a new VAT Form which should be applied.

The sales of real estate in 2014 subjected to the VAT Act or the Capital Transfer Act, depending on whether the real estate was new or old. In most cases both acts were applied. The tax status of sales of buildings, parts of buildings and land has considerably changed since 1 January 2015. The determination of the tax status of the sales of buildings depends on two criteria: whether the buildings were previously used, i.e. the period of use of such a building and whether the seller is a VAT payer or is not included in the VAT system. All the real estate, buildings and lands – agricultural and construction lands, which do not subject to VAT taxation, will as of 1 January 2015 subject to the payment of capital transfer tax.
 

The new measure of promoting employment of young persons under 30 years of age was introduced on 1 January 2015. The employers who hire a young person have reduced labour costs of 17.2%, which refers to the contributions for mandatory health insurance, health protection at work and employment. They are exempted from payment of such contributions in the following five years since the date of signing the contract on employment. The employer is obliged to sign the contract on temporary employment, in order to obtain such benefits. These benefits may be obtained for the employees who are already employed, if the employer changes the contract on temporary employment to the contract on permanent employment. However, the benefits cannot be used for the persons who are already permanently employed, even if they are under the age of 30 years.
 

Upon the preparation of the annual account in the trading activities, a special attention should be paid to the differentiation of the costs of inventories and the costs of the period which have a direct impact on the business results. The specific business events in trade activities comprise the initial valuation of goods, advance payments, discounts and the value adjustment of commodities. On the last day of preparing of the balance sheet the goods on the road, the goods in processing, finalisation or manipulation processes and the goods which are temporarily placed in somebody else’s warehouse should be included in the value of stocks.

The specifics of the catering industry do not only refer to the way of provision of services according to the Act on Catering Industry. As of 1 January 2014 the VAT rate was changed to 13% and comprises the catering services provided in all the types of catering facilities. In terms of accounting, catering services should be recorded as a service industry with the elements of production. The annual listing (stocktaking) is also more complex in this field due to the various phases which the stocks of raw materials and materials go through (preservation, processing, re-processing, de-freezeing, heat processing, etc.). The control of the used up food and drinks is obliging for caterers due to the fact that in such a way the use-up according to the normative. The accommodation facilities classified as commercial catering facilities also apply the VAT rate of 13% on accommodation services.
 

The enterprises providing service activities, as well as other enterprises, are obliged to prepare annual financial accounts and other reports necessary for the calculation of taxes, contributions and other public revenues, they are obliged to pay. Due to the specifics of service providing activities and a simultaneous sales activities (sales of spare parts, and alike) the annual financial and tax reports are specific, too. The author of the article presents the specifics of preparing annual accounts for service providing activities.

The companies engaged in production activities do not differ from other companies in view of recording their business events and preparation of financial reports. However, they are specific due to their way of controlling the costs and recording the changed value of stocks in the profit and loss account. The changed value of stocks should be recorded as the item which corrects the totally recorded costs according to their natural types. The methods of calculation of the used of stocks is the FIFO method and the method of the averagely weighted cost.

 

The companies which perform transportation activities are obliged to keep their business records and draw up the financial reports in accordance with the Act on Accounting and Accounting Standards, depending on their size. Transportation activities have their specifics which are the topic of this article, including the corresponding accounting procedures.
Transportation companies have to prepare the reports on profit tax return and other applications for public revenues and deliver them in an ordinary way and within the corresponding deadlines.
 

The preparation and realization of the annual account in agriculture requires the performance of the usual activities, which are carried out in other businesses as well, such as the listing of assets and liabilities, calculation of depreciation, determination of the total income and expenditure, business results, etc. The author of the article explains the general procedures upon determination of biological assets and agricultural products on the balance sheet date and stresses the way of determining the fair value of such assets, due to the fact that the CFRS i.e. IFRS require the application of the fair i.e. market prices, with minor exemptions, for such activities.
 

Utility companies are the most frequent beneficiaries of state subsidies due to the fact that they provide the services of the common interest.The goal of the received state subsidies is usually to finance the construction of the utility infrastructure. However, they can be used to compensate the current expenses, if such a decision has been made by the unit of the local self-government. The utility companies should correctly distribute the funds received by the units of the local self-government, since different tax and accounting positions of state subsidies arise from the fact whether such a company provides a counter-service for the received subsidy or not.
 

The article presents the specifics of the accounting for business events in construction industry according to the requirements of the accounting standards. It includes the explanation for the sub-contractors regarding the procedures of recognition of income as at the date of the balance sheet. The author also stresses that the investors should check whether all the costs in the value of the investments according to the requirements of the accounting standards. In terms of VAT taxation, the article presents which works in 2014 should be delivered as domestic reverse charge.
 

Large and middle-sized enterprises are obliged to prepare and disclose their annual reports according to the Accounting Act and the Companies’ Act. This obligation also comprises a consolidated annual report which is prepared for the group of enterprises. An annual report should include the information on risk management, such as the price and credit risks, the risks of liquidity and cash flow, the foreign currency exchange rate risk, etc. The companies whose shares are listed on the stock market, are also obliged to analysed the application of the code of corporate management.

This workshop on budgetary accounting explains the recordings of calculation and paymen of the compensation for non-employment of persons with disability, as well as the calculation and payment of daily allowances for business trips. If a budgetary person is obliged to calculate and pay the compensation due to non-employment of persons with disability, he/she should use the accounts which refer to other compensations, due to the fact that the chart of accounts does not have a special account for this type of public credit.
The system of calculation of a business trip has not been changed since the beginning of the year. The author of the text points to the fact that the receipts regarding business trips, which are non-taxable, can be paid in cash, if this has been determined by internal bye-laws within the organization.
 

A non-profit organization may send an employee on a business trip in order to perform some activities within the scope of his/her working position. Such an organization may compensate for certain expenses on this business trip in the way and under the conditions determined by the regulations of the labour law. Similarly, a non-profit organization may compensate for the expenses for a business trip to the persons who are not employed at this organization, taking into consideration certain conditions and the amounts determined by the tax regulations.
 

The institute of the minimum salary is an instrument of social security and represents the lowest amount of the monthly gross salary to which a worker has the right for the full-time work, All the workers who work in the Republic of Croatia, regardless of the headquarters or the place of registration of the employer (legal and physical persons, non-profit organizations, state administration bodies, associations, etc.), have the right to the minimum salary, which amounts to HRK 3,029.55.

The distraint on salary or colloquially called confiscation of salary is the means by which creditors make forced collection of payment of their cash receivables. The distraint procedure is carried out by the employer based on the corresponding document regarding distraint.
The new net salary amount of HRK 5,510.00, which is used as the basis for the calculation of the amount to be distrained, has been applied since the beginning of this year. Such a net salary is applied in the case of overdue payment of the receivables based on the creditor-debtor relation and alimony. In the case of the overdue settlement of the public payments, relevant is the amount of the minimum salary, which is currently HRK 3,029.55. The above stated bases represent the most important news regarding distraint on salary in 2015.

According to the latest changes of the Rulebook on Income Tax the contents of the JOPPD Form has been changed, including some new types of income for which JOPPD Form should be submitted. Some categories of non-taxable income need not be presented in the JOPPD Form. The new JOPPD Form is to be applied as of 28 February 2015.
 

The new provisions of the Income Tax Rulebook become effective on 1 January 2015. They comprise the obligation of presenting non-taxable compensations for accommodation (B/B), public transportation and toll, paid directly from the employer’s account on behalf of the employee sent on a business trip. Besides, there are additional changes regarding the codes which represent business trip expenses in the JOPPD Form.

 

The final VAT account in the PDV-K Form for 2014 should electronically be submitted by tax payers until the end of February 2015. Only VAT tax payers, entered in the VAT Register, are obliged to submit it, which excludes those registered for VAT needs. The way of filling in the PDV-K Form is determined by the provisions in the Art. 178-181 of the VAT Rulebook. The data are entered from the bookkeeping records and the I-RA and U-RA Forms. All the enterprises, even budgetary and non-profit beneficiaries may deliver the final VAT account before the determined deadline, which means when the corresponding conditions have been created.

 

The persons obliged to pay income tax are physical persons who realize the receipts subject to income taxation. During the year they make an advance payment of tax, whereas the final tax liability is determined after expiration of the accounting period (calendar year) based on the tax return form.
Not all tax payers are obliged to submit a tax return, but only those who realized the receipts on which the tax paid in 2014 is not regarded as the finally paid tax. These are the physical persons who determine the income as the difference between receipts and expenses recorded in the business records, such as craftsmen and free professions, including other tax payers who are equally treated in terms of taxation. The tax return should also be submitted by the physical persons who have received some income from abroad and have not paid the tax according to the Croatian regulations within 8 days after the receipt of cash, the employees sent to work abroad if they have paid the tax on salary in the country where they are currently employed in accordance with the agreement on avoidance of double taxation, the employees who work for two employers, and other tax payers who have, before submitting their tax refunds, found some irregularities in tax payments during the year. They can do this by request of the Tax Administration even after the deadline for submission of the tax return.
The tax return for the previous year is to be submitted to the authorized office of the Tax Administration according to the place of residence, i.e the permanent place of residence until 28 February 2015.

 

The Amendments to the Income Tax Act and the complied provisions of the Rulebook on Income Tax have been applied since 1 January 2015. The amount of the monthly personal exemption has been increased and the part of the taxable income which subjects to the lower tax rate has been extended, in order to reduce the tax burden on salaries and other receipts which subject to payment of income tax. The Amendments introduced the taxation of the interests on bank savings and loans and the new way of income taxation realized by misappropriation of the specific type of property. The number of receipts which do not subject to income tax payment, has increased too, comprising scholarships and non-refundable assets financed by the EU Funds. The new provisions also comprise taxation of capital profits and a special procedure of determination of the annual liability for income tax, the application of which will start on 1 January 2016.
 

All the members of the ship crew in international navigation – the seamen (residents) who made an income from non-independent work based on their work on board during 2014 are obliged to submit the annual income tax return. The tax status of the ship crew members in international navigation, who are employed by the domestic employer, submit the same income tax return as all the other tax payers in the Republic of Croatia. The seaman i.e. the member of the ship crew in international navigation is either the captain or any other physical person boarded to perform the activities in international navigation and has been entered in the list of the ship crew.
 

The Rulebook on Navigation Activities includes the possibility to pay the tax according to the vessel tonnage, instead of the profit tax. The companies performing navigation activities should previously report this to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure. This article presents the way of calculation of the tax according to the tonnage, instead of the profit tax.

 

The Amendments to the Rulebook on Profit Tax (published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia no. 157/14) refer to the value adjustment of the fixed assets, the donations for humanitarian purposes, which are recognized as expenditure to food producers and food sellers. The new Rulebook states the documentation which should be submitted to the Tax Administration with the tax return form, in view of the reduction of the tax base for dividends and shares in profit. The Rulebook includes the changes of the tax relief based on the re-invested profit, which is to be applied upon submitting the annual profit tax return for 2015. It explains in more details the conditions for tax exemptions and reliefs in the supported areas and the field of the Town of Vukovar, including the application of the provisions of the Rulebook on the Way of Obtaining Tax Reliefs for Performing Business Activities in the Field of the Town of Vukovar and the Supported Areas.
 

The investigation of the sources of assets of tax payers represents a regular activity of the Tax Administration in the procedure of determining tax liabilities. Therefore, the Tax Administration is continuously collecting and analysing the data and the sales of goods by physical persons, in order to correctly determine all the facts necessary for taxation i.e. to reveal the unrecorded income and finally to correctly determine the tax liability. In the case of determining the differences between the value of the acquired assets and the proved amount of the funds necessary for the acquisition of such assets, the Tax Administration calls the tax payer to their official premises to present the facts necessary for taxation. The tax payers should be acquainted with their rights, especially the purpose of the hearing of the party in the administrative and taxation procedures.
 

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4. Komisija istražuje moguće nelegalne porezne dogovore u svim članicama EU-a
5. Švicarska uvodi negativne kamate na velike depozite zbog pada tečaja eura
6. Njemačka vlada uvodi cestarine od 2016.
7. Češka uvela sniženu stopu PDV-a, Slovačka olakšice za poduzetnike
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At the beginning of January 2015 the Croatian National Bank published a new average interest rate on credit balances (granted non-financial enterprises for the period longer than a year), which makes up the base for the calculation of the default interest rate charged to the debtor in the case of late payment. Due to the fact that the interests on the placed credits by commercial banks slightly decreased in the previous period, the new calculation method has changed the legal rate of default interests, which has for the period from 1 January to 30 June 2015 been reduced to 12.14%.


 

The Croatian National Bank should be informed about certain transactions. Each legal person who operates with non-residents in foreign currency should check up whether there are any obligations to inform the CNB. Such check-ups should be carried out continuously during the year due to the fact that such an obligation may emerge or stop existing.
One of the general reports comprises the annual report on income and expenditures from the exchange of services with foreign countries i.e. with non-residents in foreign currency(US-GP Form). This report should also include the transactions referring to salaries and compensations based on the work done, as well as possible contributions.
 

Physical persons, who perform an independent activity are principally income tax payers. They may on their own request or must, according to the law, change the way of taxation and pay profit tax and remain in this system for the next three years. After expiration of this period, or in some exceptional cases earlier, an entrepreneur may return in the system of income tax. Due to the changed principle of taxation, at the beginning of the accounting period, when an entrepreneur again becomes an income tax payer, the positions of receivables and liabilities in the balance sheet as at 31 December of the previous year should be transferred in the book of income and expenditure. Accordingly, the items of liabilities should be recorded in Receipts and the items of receivables in Expenditures. Upon payment of liabilities and collection of receivables according to the principle of cash these items would be neutralized and double taxation would thus be avoided.
 

The author of this article analyzes the latest Amendments to the Act on Utility Management, which enables financing of construction of buildings and devices used in utility infrastructure. Such assets are to be financed from the compensations for utility services in the case when the particular unit of the local government decides that this is necessary. Thus, the Act on Utility Management is to be complied with the Act on Organization and Scope of Work of the Ministries and Other Central Bodies of the State Administration in the part on the ralization of the inspection control. It should be pointed out that the new provisions of the above stated Act, i.e. the Act on the Amendments to the Act on Utility Management became effective on 20 December 2014.

 

According to the provisions of the new Act on Consumers’ Protection, which became effective on 1 January 2015, the sales persons should carry out their sales activities according to the new regulations. They comprise promotional sales, seasonal sales, discounts, sales of faulty goods, sales of goods with the limited expiration date, as well as the discounts of certain products or group of products.
This article presents the new regulations regarding the specific types of sales of products and services at the prices which are lower than in the regular sales, comprising discounts granted to the specific group of consumers, the way of payment, the purchase of certain products, sales of goods at promotional prices, organizing partial or total sales of goods, sales of goods at reduced prices, organization of prize-winning games, gift-giving to faithful i.e. regular consumers, etc.

 

A child benefit represents a cash receipt used by the parent or the user of the benefit to support and educate the children, and cannot be the subject of the distraint order or insurance, except in the case of the court decision in favour of the children which are supposed to acquire such a benefit.

 

The author of the article analyzes some relevant issues on the contract provisions referring to the prohibition of competition between the employee and the employer, the compensation for damages and solidary responsibility of the employer, as well as the parties in the collective agreement and its signing, all in view of the recent practice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia and the County Court in Varaždin. The author points to the fact that such a court practice is valid in the application of the new Labour Act, which became effective approximately a month ago.

In 2015 the Rulebook on Non-Profit Accounting is to be applied. There are no considerable changes in the way of recording assets between the year of 2014 and the year of 2015, neither in the way of recording of reciprocal and non-reciprocal income. Expenditures are recognized with the application of the accounting principle of the emergence of a business event, regardless of payment. The new regulation refers to the small inventory which should be recorded in the balance sheet positions up to the moment when it gets sold, gifted or some other way of misappropriation or destruction.

Due to the fact that the new legislative framework which determines the operations and accounting of non-profit organizations has been applied since 1 January 2015, a corresponding number of the valid regulations have been included in it. The first regulation in this field was published, too. It determines the accounting of non-profit organizations. The article presents an overview of the above stated regulation and some of its provisions.
 

1. Opći pregled
2. Cijene u RH i EU-u
3. Industrijska proizvodnja RH i EU-a
4. Proizvođačke cijene industrije RH i EU-a
5. Vanjskotrgovinska razmjena
6. Trgovina na malo u RH i EU-u
7. Turizam
8. Plaće
9. Likvidnost i insolventnost
10. Zaposlenost i nezaposlenost RH i EU-a