Accounting for a Slovak s.r.o.: Obligations, Deadlines and Costs

Who has to keep accounting in Slovakia

An s.r.o. is an "accounting entity" (účtovná jednotka) under the Slovak Accounting Act, so the obligation is not optional and does not depend on turnover.

• ▸Every s.r.o. keeps double-entry bookkeeping (podvojné účtovníctvo). Single-entry (jednoduché účtovníctvo) is only for sole traders (živnosť) and some non-profits — a limited company can never use it.
• ▸A dormant company still has obligations. Even with zero activity you file a "nil" tax return, prepare financial statements, and deposit them in the public register every year.
• ▸The statutory body is responsible for compliance. Fines for late or missing filings can be imposed on the company (by the tax office) and on the director personally (by the registry court), and unfiled statements are visible to banks, partners and counterparties in the public register.
• ▸Records are kept in Slovak and in euros. Foreign-currency transactions are converted using the reference exchange rate; documents in another language may need a translation if the tax office asks.

Day-to-day bookkeeping: records, invoices, retention

Between the annual filings, the company has to keep an orderly, continuous record of every business transaction.

• ▸Primary documents for everything — issued and received invoices, bank statements, cash receipts, contracts, asset records. A transaction without a supporting document is a problem in a tax audit.
• ▸Slovak invoice requirements — a valid invoice needs the supplier and customer details, IČO / IČ DPH where applicable, a unique number, the date of supply, the amount and the VAT breakdown. Missing fields can cost you the input-VAT deduction.
• ▸Monthly, not once a year — even a small company should have its books posted monthly so VAT returns (if registered) and payroll are correct and cash flow is visible.
• ▸Retention periods — accounting records and financial statements are generally kept for 10 years, payroll records under separate rules. Keep them accessible even after you switch accountants.

Annual financial statements and filing

After each financial year the company prepares the účtovná závierka — the balance sheet, the profit-and-loss statement and the notes — in the size class that applies to it (micro, small or large; most foreign-owned companies are micro or small).

• ▸Filed electronically, once. Statements go to the register of financial statements (register účtovných závierok) via the Financial Administration portal — the same submission makes them public in the Commercial Register's collection of deeds.
• ▸The deadline follows the tax return. They are due together with the corporate income tax return — generally within 3 months of the year-end (31 March for a calendar year) — and the deadline moves if the tax return deadline is extended.
• ▸Approval by the general meeting within the legal window after the year-end; if that happens after filing, an approval note is deposited afterwards.
• ▸Late or missing filing — fines from the tax authority (on the company) and the registry court (on the director) can run into the thousands of euros, more for repeated failures; after six months of non-filing the court can dissolve the company. Plus the reputational cost of an empty entry in the public register.

The tax calendar for a Slovak s.r.o.

These are the recurring dates a company runs into. Exact amounts and thresholds change yearly — treat the table as a map, not a source of figures.

• •Corporate income tax rate — a standard rate, with a reduced rate for smaller companies below a turnover threshold and a higher rate on very large profits. All three have moved recently — confirm the current rate and threshold before you rely on them.
• •VAT — the standard rate was raised at the start of 2025; there are two reduced rates. Mandatory registration is tied to turnover in a calendar year (plus a higher single-transaction threshold); voluntary registration is possible earlier. Confirm the exact amounts for the current year.

Payroll: what changes once you hire

Payroll (mzdy) is a separate workflow from bookkeeping and is usually priced per employee. It starts the moment you have your first employee — or pay yourself as an executive.

• ▸Register first — the company registers as an employer with the Social Insurance Agency (Sociálna poisťovňa) and the health insurers before the first payday.
• ▸Employer cost on top of gross — social and health contributions add roughly a third above the gross salary; the employee also has contributions and income tax withheld from their side.
• ▸Monthly cycle — payslips, contribution filings to Sociálna poisťovňa and the health insurers, and wage-tax reporting to the tax office, each with its own monthly deadline.
• ▸Executives (konateľ) — a managing director with a paid mandate contract is also in the payroll system; an unpaid one generally is not, but the setup should be deliberate, not accidental.

Transfer pricing documentation

If your Slovak company trades with related parties — a parent company, another company you own, or a connected person abroad — those transactions must be priced at arm's length and, above certain limits, documented.

• ▸Who it applies to — cross-border (and, in some cases, domestic) transactions between related parties: management fees, intra-group loans, goods, licences, cost sharing.
• ▸Levels of documentation — from a short basic file to full documentation, depending on the size and type of the transactions; there are de-minimis limits below which only minimal records are needed.
• ▸Prepared on request — you generally don't file it, but the tax office can ask for it within a short deadline during a review, so it should exist before they ask.
• ▸This is specialist work — most general bookkeepers don't prepare transfer pricing files; budget for a tax advisor if you have material intra-group flows.

How much accounting costs in Slovakia

Pricing is usually either per document (per posted item) or a fixed monthly fee, plus payroll per employee. Rough market ranges as of 2026:

What moves the price: number of documents, VAT registration, foreign-currency and cross-border transactions, number of employees, whether you need reporting and communication in English, and how tidy the source documents you hand over are.

How to choose an accounting provider

For a company run from abroad, the working relationship matters as much as the price. Check before you sign:

• ✓Language and communication — will you get statements and answers in English, and how fast do they reply?
• ✓Professional liability insurance — a serious firm carries it; ask for confirmation.
• ✓Who talks to the tax office — does the provider represent you in routine matters and during a review, or only post documents?
• ✓Software and hand-off — cloud access to your data, and a clean export if you ever switch.
• ✓Scope boundaries — is payroll included, are the annual financial statements included, is a tax advisor available for non-routine questions (transfer pricing, restructuring)?
• ✓A bookkeeper is not a tax advisor — for binding opinions on complex matters you may need a licensed daňový poradca; a good accountant will tell you when.

Common mistakes foreign owners make

• ✗Treating a dormant company as "nothing to do" — the nil return and the deposited statements are still mandatory, and the fine for skipping them is real.
• ✗Handing over documents once a year — the books can't be reconstructed cleanly in March, and VAT deadlines are already missed by then.
• ✗Paying group invoices with no contract or transfer pricing basis — the deduction gets challenged in a review.
• ✗Assuming the EU VAT number works everywhere automatically — cross-border supplies have their own registration and reporting rules.
• ✗Choosing purely on price — the cheapest per-document rate often means no English, no representation, and slow answers when it matters.

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