The mini tax reform, which is to be applied as of 1 January 2015, comprises the fields of VAT, capital transfer tax, income tax and contributions. The most important change referring to real estate is the object of taxation, which means that according to the VAT Act not only the newly constructed buildings do not subject to the payment of VAT, but such an exemption includes all the real estate and building lands. The Profit Tax Act is to be complied with the Directive of the Council 2014/86/EU. The most important change is the cancellation of the tax exemption for the re-invested profit. The profit will not subject to taxation only in the case if it is re-invested into fixed assets and the preservation of the existing working places for the period of at least two years.
The author of the article analyzes the mini tax reform in view of the income tax, employment and salaries. This reform, which was announced for several times, is finally to be applied at the beginning of 2015. The objective of the reform is to reduce taxes on salaries, i.e. to increase net salaries, which should result in the increased consumption and economic growth. Despite the benevolence of the reform, the use of the new elements for calculation of salaries, such as the increased personal exemption frim HRK 2,200.00 to HRK 2,600.00 and the exetended part of the salary which subjects to income taxation at the rate of 25%, instead of 40%, result in the fact that the employees who have higher salaries which partially reach the taxable part of the salary at 40% will receive higher salaries. Perhaps, the incentives for employment of the persons younger than 30 years of age, will have a better effect on the economy.
Autor: Lucija TURKOVIĆ-JARŽA, dipl. oec. i ovl. rač.
The author of this article analyzes the latest Amendments to the Act on Utility Management, which enables financing of construction of buildings and devices used in utility infrastructure. Such assets are to be financed from the compensations for utility services in the case when the particular unit of the local government decides that this is necessary. Thus, the Act on Utility Management is to be complied with the Act on Organization and Scope of Work of the Ministries and Other Central Bodies of the State Administration in the part on the ralization of the inspection control. It should be pointed out that the new provisions of the above stated act, i.e. the Act on the Amendments to the Act on Utility Management became effective on 20 December 2014.
The author of this article analyzes the new Amendments to the Act on Strategic Investment Projects, which became effective on 30 December 2014. The main purpose of these Amendments is to enable the proper application of the project without a completely prepared financial plan, but with the corresponding evidence on the company’s creditworthiness. The new provisions determine that the potentila streategic projects may be realized on the real estate whose major owner is the Republic of Croatia according to the entry in the land register or on the real estate whose major owner is the Republic of Croatia and the unit of the local and regional self-government according to the entry in the land register and which has been planned by the urban plan for development of investment projects.
The author of the article analyzes the two latest novelties of the Act on Court Register, which became effective in 2013 and 2014. They are expected to contribute to the further improvement of the court register system and to speed up the registration procedure. One of their main objectives is the compliance with the European acquis communautaire, which required the changes of the legislation referring to the improvement of the court register, which became the database of all the electronically entered items and documents and represents the basis for the safe exchange of information with other IT systems. Besides, using the experience of those countries, whose regulations were used as samples by the Croatian lawmaker (Germany, Austria) the settlement of simpler registration cases has been entrusted to court councellers and authorized registration officer. The latest amendments to the above stated Act should enable linking of the registers and the exchange of the relevant data through the European central platform.
The Act on Factoring, which became effective on 31 July 2014, introduced a new and formal name of the contract in the Croatian legal system. The author of the article presents a short overview of the legal determination of factoring activities, gives the definition of a factoring company and explains the structure and the role of such a company.
The author of this paper discusses an olympic medal as a specific Olympic symbol. The specificity consists in the fact that the International Olympic Committee is entitled to the Olympic-intellectual property of the medal,whereas the winners have the right to the ownership awarded to them for top achievements. The rights to the Olympic medal are also claimed by the national olympic committees and the states from which the athletes come to the Olympic Games. This is contrary to the content and spirit of the Olympic Charter, which serves as the statute of the International Olympic Committee and which specifies that the Olympic Games athletes compete in individual and team events and not between countries. Therefore, the International Olympic Committee does not draw up any global ranking per country. Only the names of the medal winners stand out and are permanently exhibited in the main stadium.
U ovom članku autor analizira slučaj iz sudske prakse u kojem se pojavilo sporno pravno pitanje-je li banka sa sjedištem u Republici Sloveniji, koja je poslovala i na području bivše SR Hrvatske, obvezna na zahtjev deponenta novčanog depozita vratiti mu devizni novčani depozit i prije međudržavnog sporazuma između država-pravnih sljednica bivše SFRJ u smislu odredbe čl. 7. Aneksa C ugovora o pitanjima sukcesije, te se navode razlozi koji opravdavaju zaključak prema kojemu je ta banka dužna vratiti novčani devizni depozit prema uvjetima ugovora o novčano depozitu i prije sklapanja navedenoga međudržavnog sporazuma.
The article analyzes three issues in the field of law on obligations, which are regulated by the Act on Obligations. These are protective foreign currency clauses, the conditions of contracting (flexible) interest rates and the regulations on interests in general. The first two issues are presented in view of the recent decisions made by commercial courts in the Swiss Franc Case, which has as a precedent aroused a high interest by the professionals and the general public. The legal norms on interest rates were frequently changed in the past years, which has resulted in the procedure of passing the specific new Act on Interests, which should separate this issue from the Act on Obligations. Besides some general information, the author presents his comments on the particular decisions.
The topic of the article is determination of default interests by the provisions of the Act on Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement, which has been applied since June 2013, including the general provisions on default interests in the Act on Obligations. The provisions of the Act on Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement are compared to the provisions on default interests stated in the Act on Obligations. The division is made between the obligations which are to be regulated by the provisions of the Act on Obligations and those to be regulated by the provisions on interest rates stated in the Act on Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement as lex specilis. In the first part of the article the author explained the specifics of determination of default interests stated in the Act on Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement. In this part the author explains in which cases and which entities subject to the provisions on default interests stated in the Act on Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement.
The article presents the procedure of making the Decision on determination of the annual quota of work permits issued to foreign residents in the year of 2015, which was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia at the session held on 17 December 2014 and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia no. 151/14. The Decision is to be applied as of 1 January 2015.