ENSURING TAX STABILITY THROUGH ADVANCE RULINGS IN (SLOVENE) PRACTICE

Advance ruling is a tax instrument designed to mitigate the growing need for clarity and predictability of tax law relations. Many legislations introduced this tool in order to ensure legal certainty and economic stability. In Slovenia, advance ruling was introduced in 2006 with the adoption of the Tax Procedure Act (TPA). As stipulated by Article 14 of TPA, the tax authority issues advance rulings in individual cases based on future facts. The analysis of case law reveals that one of the key issues concerning advance rulings is their unclear legal nature. Furthermore, high fees and excessive length of procedures cause problems in the implementation of the TPA. This paper addresses the main considerations for efficiency of tax advance rulings in Slovenia in terms of legal analysis of the TPA, the Rules on its implementation, respective administrative practice and case law. An empirical study was carried out among tax consultants and the tax authority to verify the hypotheses on the non-optimal regulation and differing views of the tax authority and taxpayers. Thus, several recommendations on de lege ferenda improvements were formed, for comparable countries as well.