Do I have to file at home while living in Slovakia?
For most people the answer turns on whether the ties that made them resident have actually ended. For a US citizen or green-card holder it does not: the return is due in Slovakia exactly as it would be at home. Everything else on the file follows from which of those you are.
Is there a treaty between my country and Slovakia?
Possibly, and the version in force for your year is the one that matters — protocols and multilateral-instrument positions change what a treaty does without changing its name. We check it against the authority rather than a summary. Where no treaty applies, domestic relief takes over.
I own property in Slovakia. Where is the rent taxed?
Rent from immovable property is almost always taxable where the property is situated, frequently by withholding on the gross amount, with your home country taxing the same income and giving credit. A net-basis election, where one exists, is usually the difference between tax on profit and tax on turnover.
Will I be taxed in Slovakia on a short assignment?
Not necessarily, but the exemption that protects short assignments has conditions, and the one that fails most often is about who bears the cost of your employment. If the Slovak entity you work for carries that cost, whether by direct payment or by a recharge from your home employer, the exemption is generally not available however short the stay. The length of your visit is only the first test. Before an assignment starts, read the intercompany agreement rather than the assignment letter, because that is the document a tax authority will read, and it is usually the one nobody looked at.
Who is my employer for tax purposes if Slovakia pays my costs?
For treaty purposes the employer is not always the entity named on your contract. What matters is which company directs the work, bears the risk and the responsibility for its result, and ultimately carries the cost. Where a Slovak host entity does those things, it can be treated as your employer for tax even though your contract and payroll remain at home. That conclusion changes who must withhold, when the obligation starts, and whether a treaty exemption is available at all. It is a question of fact, and the intercompany documentation and the recharge entries are the facts that decide it.
Does my home employer need a Slovak payroll for one assignee?
Possibly, and the trigger is the arrangement rather than the number of people. If the host entity is the employer in substance, or the home company's presence amounts to a taxable one, a local withholding and reporting obligation follows and it applies from the first assignee rather than from some later point. Registering late is more expensive than registering early, because interest and penalty exposure builds on amounts that should have been withheld. Establish the position before the assignment begins, and put the conclusion in writing with the reasoning attached, so a change in the arrangement is noticed when it happens.
Do Slovak social contributions on my payslip reduce my tax at home?
Contributions are a different charge from income tax, and relief for them is not automatic. Whether you should be paying them in Slovakia at all depends on the social security arrangement between the countries and on the certificate of coverage that arrangement provides for, and whether they do anything on your home return depends on your home country's own rules rather than on the tax treaty. Deal with them as a separate question with a separate answer. Assignees who assume the treaty covers contributions usually discover otherwise when a refund is claimed and the claim is refused.
My family stayed at home while I work in Slovakia. Where am I resident?
Quite possibly in both places, which is why the treaty has a tie-break. Each country applies its own domestic residence rules first, and when both conclude that you are resident, the treaty decides which one prevails. It looks at where you have a permanent home available, then at where your personal and economic relations are stronger, then at where you habitually stay, and finally at nationality. The tie-break is decided on evidence, not preference. Assemble the tenancy papers, the family's arrangements and the pattern of your travel before you file, because the answer sets the shape of both returns.
Do I need a certificate of coverage before a posting to Slovakia?
If you intend to remain in your home social security system during the posting, yes, and the time to apply is before you leave. The certificate is the document that keeps contributions in one system instead of two, and it is issued by the home authority for a defined period. Without it, the host payroll has little choice but to operate local contributions, and unwinding that afterwards means a refund claim in one country and a correction in the other. Applications take time to process, so it belongs on the pre-departure list beside the visa rather than on the post-arrival one.
Is the foreign tax credit refundable?
No. It reduces your tax to nil at most; it never pays out beyond that. Where foreign tax exceeds the credit you are allowed, the excess is generally carried back or forward within its own category rather than refunded — so a high-tax year abroad can leave a balance you use in a later year. Tracking those balances matters, because an unused carryforward can expire. Our carryforward tracker keeps the running position.
Is my foreign pension taxable?
Usually in at least one country, and which one depends on the treaty article covering pensions — some give the taxing right to the country paying it, others to where you live, and several treat government service pensions differently again. Withholding at source is common and often reducible by treaty, with an elective return recovering an over-deduction. See the pensions article.
