In the June issue of dReport, we informed you about the amendment included in the planned change in the taxation of basic investment funds. On 19 July 2018, an act was adopted (with effect from 1 January 2019) which includes a narrowing of the definition of a basic investment fund, and removes from the definition those funds whose shares are admitted to trading only on the European regulated market and do not fulfil the other conditions enumerated by law. These funds will now be subject to the standard corporate rate of 19% and not the current rate of 5%.
As we have reported before, the reason for the change was the Senate’s effort to remove from the definition of the basic investment funds the funds that are only registered on a regulated market without actually performing investment activities. Pursuant to the amendment, the benefits of lower taxation can only be drawn by the funds that are active in making investments on financial markets.
The adopted amendment stipulates that the basic investment funds include the funds listed for trading on a European regulated market with no corporate income taxpayer having any investment of 10% or more in the registered capital of the relevant investment fund; in order to meet the condition, investments of related parties that are corporate income taxpayers are considered to be investments of a single taxpayer; the condition is considered to be met even if the permitted investment in the registered capital is exceeded over a period shorter than a half of the taxation period or a period for which a tax return is filed or a period shorter than six months if the taxation period is longer than 12 months and if the fund is not involved in a trade under the conditions stipulated by the Trade Licensing Act.
The above-specified restriction will thus relate to the funds that are only considered to be basic investment funds under the Income Taxes Act due to the fact that they are listed for trading on a European regulated market and at the same time, they are owned within a group or by a limited number of owners, whereby the share of each owner is 10% or more.
The amendment will apply to tax obligations arising after the effective date of the Act, i.e. from 1 January 2019.
The article is part of dReport – October 2018, Tax news; Grants and investment Incentives.
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