What can you arrange electronically as a self-employed person?

Article content

When do you have to communicate with the authorities electronically?

In this article, we presented several cases of mandatory electronic communication with the state. Among the most common are communication in particular:

• with the tax office – most often filing a tax return for income tax, filing a request for deferral of a tax return, etc.,
• with Social Insurance – if you employ employees as a self-employed person,
• with health insurance companies – which is mandatory for all employers, including self-employed people.

In addition to mandatory electronic communication with the state, there are also situations where it is worthwhile to communicate electronically with public administration offices on a voluntary basis. We have selected for you several situations of communication with the trade office, in which such a process pays off not only financially, but also from a time point of view.

It is not mandatory, but it brings benefits: Examples of electronic communication with the trade office

The most common situations in which you communicate with the trade office as a self-employed person include the establishment of a business, changes in the business license, or suspension or termination of a business. You can do all these and many other tasks electronically, right from the comfort of your home.

The condition for using the electronic services of the trade register is that you have an activated electronic mailbox for delivery on the Central Public Administration Portal, i.e. on the Slovensko.sk page.

#1 Setting up a trade online

Electronic business reporting will save you not only a trip to your district office, but also related fees:

• when visiting the trade office in person, you pay 15 euros for each item of craft or regulated trade, 5 euros for free trades,
• the electronic notification of a craft or regulated trade is charged 50 euros for each subject of business, free trades are free of charge.

Fees for one subject of trade

You submit the electronic notification of a trade, or the application for the issuance of a certificate of trade authorization for a free, craft, or regulated trade at the local trade licensing office according to your place of residence. The service requires you to sign the form and all attachments with your qualified electronic signature.

How to establish a trade online?

1. Go to the Slovensko.sk portal and in the “Find a Service” section, search for “Notification of a Free, Craft, and Regulated Trade – Physical Person”.
2. Select the appropriate trade licensing office and click on “Search”.
3. After clicking on the “Service” link, you will be redirected to the login page of the Slovensko.sk portal, where you can log in using:
   • a Slovak document – an ID card with a chip, a residence permit with a chip, or an alternative authenticator using a card reader,
   • a mobile key – via the “Slovensko v mobile” application (using a QR code or a numerical code with your mobile phone and the “Slovensko v mobile” application),
   • another European document issued in a European Union country.
4. Fill out the electronic submission along with the required attachments and sign with your qualified electronic signature.
5. Pay the applicable fee through the payment portal or via your internet banking.
6. The certificate of trade authorization, or other decisions (e.g., about non-issuance of trade authorization, about termination of proceedings, etc.) in electronic form will be automatically delivered to your electronic mailbox within 3 working days.

#2 Change of trade

You can also electronically report changes in the business that relate to the data and documents listed on its notification. You should do so within 15 days of the change occurring.

When reporting changes via the Slovensko.sk portal, you proceed similarly to the previous case. However, for electronic notification of changes, use the Notification of changes to data entered in the trade register and indicated on the trade authorization document. Do not forget to sign the form and attachments to the submission, which confirm the reported facts, with a qualified electronic signature.

Our tip: If you have additionally discovered missing or incorrectly filled data in the submitted submission, use the form Supplementing the submitted submission for trade register services.

You will pay a fee of 3 euros when you personally report changes to the data listed on the trade license documents. You do not pay the administrative fee for electronic submission signed with an electronic signature. There is no administrative fee for notification of changes to data entered in the trade register in the case of personal or electronic submission.

Fees for changes of trade

#3 Suspension or cancellation of business

There are two separate services on the Slovensko.sk portal for the purpose of suspending or terminating a trade license:

• To suspend a trade online, use the Notice of suspension of business operation When submitting the notification electronically, you pay an administrative fee of 2 euros, when submitting in person, 4 euros.
• You can cancel your trade online through the Business Termination Notice Personal and electronic submission is free of charge in this case.

Fees for suspension or cancellation of trade

The procedure is similar in both cases:

1. Send the completed electronic submission signed with your qualified signature via Slovensko.sk.
2. You pay the administrative fee.
3. The trade office will issue you the relevant confirmation and deliver it to your electronic mailbox.

Did you know that…
…if you suspend your trade license entirely, the trade office will also inform the tax office, the health insurance company and the Social Insurance Company?

#4 Other electronic services of the trade register

Through the Slovensko.sk website, you can handle other matters related to your trade. You can, for example, electronically:

• announce the cross-border provision of services on the territory of the Slovak Republic,
• request an extract from the public and non-public part of the trade register,
• request the issuance of a confirmation that the provision of services based on a trade license is not restricted or prohibited,
• to obtain a business license according to special regulations and the like.