Flat-rate or actual expenses in Slovakia: which pays off for a sole trader in 2026

For income tax, a Slovak sole trader chooses whether to deduct the expenses actually incurred, or flat-rate expenses (paušálne výdavky) of 60 % of income, up to 20,000 € a year. The flat rate is simpler; actual expenses pay off when you have a lot of them.^⁠[1]⁠[2]

This guide explains who may and who may not use the flat rate, what it covers, which records each method requires, and how to compare the two on numbers. The values apply to the 2026 tax year.

What flat-rate expenses are

If you do not claim provable expenses, you may deduct expenses of 60 % of your total business income, up to 20,000 € a year.^⁠[1] The Financial Administration states the 20,000 € cap for the 2026 tax year as well.^⁠[2]

The flat rate covers all tax-deductible expenses except compulsory insurance: the social contributions and health insurance advances you paid are deducted on top, in the amount you can prove.^⁠[1]

A sole trader on flat-rate expenses cannot report a tax loss.^⁠[2]

A non-VAT payer may apply the same 60 % flat rate, at most 20,000 €, also to income from the use of a work or an artistic performance.^⁠[1]

Who cannot use the flat rate

Flat-rate expenses may only be claimed by a taxpayer who is not a VAT payer, or who was a VAT payer for only part of the tax year. A VAT payer for the whole year claims actual expenses.^⁠[1]

If you are approaching the mandatory registration threshold, see VAT registration threshold in Slovakia.

Which records you need

A taxpayer keeping tax records (daňová evidencia) is not an accounting entity and does not attach financial statements to the tax return.^⁠[2] You keep the records until the right to assess the tax expires, as a rule five years from the end of the year in which the return was due.^⁠[1]⁠[3]

Under both methods your issued invoices are the basis of your income records; what each must contain is summed up in Invoice requirements in Slovakia 2026.

How to keep the records in practice is shown in Cash book and tax records of a Slovak sole trader; the return itself is covered in Slovak tax return type B for 2026.

An example: which method comes out better

Contributions are deducted the same way under both methods, so the example leaves them out for simplicity.

With these numbers the flat rate wins. If, with income of 40,000 €, your actual expenses were 26,000 €, the flat rate would be capped at 20,000 € and actual expenses would be better: a tax base of 14,000 € instead of 20,000 €.

As a rule, actual expenses start to pay off once they exceed 60 % of income. Above income of 33,333.33 € the flat rate is capped at 20,000 €, so what matters is whether your actual expenses exceed 20,000 €.

Expenses also change your contributions

The social insurance assessment base is worked out from your business tax base, and the health insurance advance is based on it too. A lower tax base after deducting expenses therefore also means lower contributions, though never below the minimum.^⁠[4]⁠[5]

For health insurance, the insurance you paid is not deducted from that base, so the contributions do not lower their own base.^⁠[5] Whether you pay the Social Insurance Agency nothing, the micro-contribution or the regular contribution, however, depends on income, not on the tax base.^⁠[4]

The tax rate: 15 % or more

If your taxable business income for the year does not exceed 100,000 €, your business tax base is taxed at 15 %. With higher income, rates of 19, 25, 30 and 35 % apply from 2026 depending on the tax base.^⁠[1]

Your choice of expenses therefore changes the tax base, not your entitlement to the 15 % rate: that depends on income. The contributions you deduct under both methods are covered in Sole trader contributions in Slovakia 2026.

Checklist

• You know whether you are a VAT payer for the whole year; if so, the flat rate is not available.
• You compared 60 % of income (at most 20,000 €) with your actual expenses.
• On the flat rate, you record income, inventory and receivables and keep proof of the contributions you paid.
• With actual expenses, you have a document for every expense and keep tax records.
• You keep the records until the right to assess the tax expires.

Expenses in vporiadku

You issue invoices on every plan, including the free Start plan. If you claim actual expenses, on the Profi plan you record expenses (also by scanning a receipt) and keep a cash book whose entries appear on their own when an invoice or expense is paid.

You can estimate your contributions in the contributions calculator. Compare the plans in the pricing and try vporiadku for free. What we offer sole traders on flat-rate expenses is summed up on the page for sole traders.