The government has approved a draft law on the taxation of sweetened soft drinks

Sweetened soft drinks will be subject to a new tax as part of consolidation measures to stabilise public finances in the Slovak Republic (SR). The tax on sweetened soft drinks should provide additional revenue for the state budget but also reduce the consumption of these beverages.

The new tax will be an indirect tax on consumption and will apply to soft drinks sweetened with sugar or any other sweeteners. In principle, the tax will be collected and paid to the state budget by the entrepreneurs making the first delivery of the beverage in question in the Slovak Republic, who will collect it in the price of the beverage.

The tax liability will arise on the date of the first delivery in the SR, and the taxpayer will be obliged to notify the tax administrator of this fact within five days from the date of delivery.

In particular, sweetened bottled water, flavoured drinks, ice teas, juices, non-alcoholic beer and wine with an alcohol content of up to 0.5%, and drinks with a high caffeine content, such as energy drinks, will be subject to the tax.

After the completion of the inter-ministerial comment procedure, the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic has excluded sweetened milk drinks, yoghurt drinks and plant-based drinks, nutritional supplements such as over-the-counter effervescent vitamin tablets, protein drinks with added sugar or sweeteners from the subject of the tax.

The basis for the tax calculation will be the quantity of the beverage expressed in litres (or kilograms), with individual beverages being subject to the following tax rates:

• EUR 0.15/litre – packaged beverages intended for direct consumption,
• a packaged concentrated substance that requires preparation prior to consumption:
• EUR 1.05/litre – if the beverage is delivered in any measurement unit of volume,
• EUR 4.30/kilogram – if the beverage is delivered in any measurement unit of weight,
• EUR 0.30/litre – beverages with a high caffeine content (energy drinks).

The introduction of the new tax is expected to bring almost EUR 80 million to the state budget in 2025. However, the Association of Producers of Soft Drinks and Mineral Waters in the Slovak Republic rejects this draft law and states in its opinion that the new tax will cause an extreme increase in the price of sweetened soft drinks, namely by tens of percent depending on the type of beverage.

The draft law has been referred to parliament for debate, with the law proposed to take effect from 1 January 2025. We will keep you informed of further developments on this draft law in future editions of our Newsletter.