From 1 July 2020, mandatory reporting on cross-border arrangements for intermediaries, companies and individuals offering tax planning consulting services. Cross-border arrangements cover any arrangement, scheme, transaction or scheme of transactions relating in particular to the creation, attribution, acquisition or transfer of income, assets or rights deriving from income, so it is crucial that the intermediaries of such transactions in which they participate/advise, identify and report them in a timely manner. In the event of a business secret, the obligation to report is transferred from the intermediary to the company itself.

The purpose of reporting to the tax authority is to obtain information on potentially aggressive tax structures that would give the tax authority greater tax transparency and reduce the spillover of profits into more tax-friendly jurisdictions. This prevents aggressive tax schemes and the potential for tax evasion.

In view of the current situation regarding the COVID-19 epidemic, the European Commission has proposed postponing the deadlines for reporting and exchanging information on cross-border arrangements, namely:

• Reporting start date for Cross-border arrangements is 1 October 2020 instead of 1 July 2020,
• Arrangements made between 25 June 2018 and 1 July 2020 should be reported by 30 November 2020 instead of 31 August,
• The first information between EU competent authorities should be exchanged on 31 January 2021 instead of 31 October 2020.

The European Commission is also proposing the possibility of an additional three-month extension of the period for submission and exchange of information. Intermediaries or companies could take advantage of  additional extensions if new restrictive measures were implemented in a Member State or existing measures continued.

In case of non-reporting, the prescribed sanctions for intermediaries (as defined in Slovene Tax Procedure Act) are namely up to EUR 30,000 for a legal entity and up to EUR 4,000 for the responsible person of a legal entity.

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