Copyright and civil contracts in Slovakia: taxes and reclassification risk

You commission texts, design or development in Slovakia — or hand someone a one-off errand — and want to set it up properly without turning the contractor into an employee. This kind of work has its own contract forms: the copyright contract, the mandate-style civil contracts and the contract for work. We break down who owns the rights, how it is taxed, where the €500 trap hides, and which construct carries the highest reclassification risk.

In short

• Commission software, a database or a map — the economic rights are yours by law. Commission a text, design or photos — the rights stay with the author (§91 of the Copyright Act).
• An author's fee is withheld at source at 19 % by default, with no social contributions at all; a written agreement can switch it to self-declaration with 60 % flat expenses (§43 of the Income Tax Act).
• The €500 exemption for "other income" almost never works when a company pays (§8 of the Income Tax Act).
• The 2 % art-fund contributions have been voluntary since July 2023.
• The riskiest construct for reclassification is the mandate contract; the calmest is a contract for work with genuine business risk.

When these contracts fit

Some work is neither employment nor business: a one-off piece of work, a single errand, a specific commission with a tangible result. These forms exist exactly for it.

They share one limit: if the substance is permanent work under someone's direction, none of them will save you — part three of this series covers that in detail.

Copyright contracts

What counts as a work

A work is a unique result of creative intellectual activity in literature, art or science, perceivable by the senses (§3 par. 1 of Copyright Act No. 185/2015 Coll., the AZ). The key word is "unique": routine ongoing output is not a work, even when a creative person produces it.

The law lists the kinds: literary, verbal, theatrical, musical and audiovisual works, painting and graphics, sculpture, architecture, applied art, computer programs, databases, cartography (§3 par. 2 AZ).

Photography has its own rule: uniqueness is not required — it is enough that the shot results from creative activity (§3 par. 5 AZ).

Who owns the rights

Three different situations, and they get mixed up constantly.

An employee's work. Created within employment duties — the economic rights are exercised by default by the employer, in its own name and for its own benefit (§90 par. 4 AZ). No consent from the employee is needed, and the employer may pass that right to a third party without consent too (§90 par. 5 AZ). Nothing changes after the employment ends.

A commissioned work. The rights stay with the author. The client only gets permission to use the work for the purpose following from the contract; any other purpose needs the author's consent (§91 par. 1 AZ). More than that: the author may use the work themselves and license it to others — as long as it does not conflict with the contract and the client's justified interests (§91 par. 2 AZ).

The exception to the exception: computer programs, databases and cartographic works made to order follow the employee-work regime — the client gets the rights as if it were the employer (§91 par. 4 AZ).

For IT this decides everything: commission development — the rights are yours by law. Commission design, texts or photos — the rights sit with the author, and without a proper licence you are limited to the contract's purpose.

The author's moral rights — authorship and the integrity of the work — never transfer, under any conditions.

The licence agreement

What belongs in it: the manner of use, the scope of the licence, the term and the fee — or an express statement that the licence is free of charge (§65 par. 1 AZ).

Written form is mandatory only for an exclusive licence (§65 par. 3 AZ). A non-exclusive one can be agreed orally — but don't: you will never prove an oral deal.

Taxes: two regimes

The default — 19 % withholding at source. The payer deducts it on payment, the author declares nothing, and no insurance contributions arise at all (§43 of the Income Tax Act, the ZDP). The upside: zero paperwork. The downside: no expense deduction, no tax-free allowance, no child tax bonus.

The alternative — pay your own tax. The author and the payer may agree in advance, in writing, that no tax is withheld (§43 par. 14 ZDP). The author then files a return and applies the 60 % flat expenses.

Three conditions people stumble over:

• the agreement must be written;
• it must be concluded before the payment — it cannot be backdated;
• the payer must notify the tax office on a dedicated form — by the end of January of the year following the year the agreement was concluded (§43 par. 14 ZDP).

The official materials disagree with each other: the law ties the deadline to the year the agreement was concluded, while the form's instructions tie it to the year of payment. The law takes priority, but the safer play is to file by the earlier of the two dates.

Active vs. passive income — a fundamental difference

Passive income is the only construct where you can deduct 60 % of expenses and pay no contributions at all. But it comes with no tax reliefs either.

One link people forget: an author with active income above the annual threshold becomes a mandatory SZČO contributor to the Social Insurance Agency — from 1 July of the following year (§21 of Act No. 461/2003 Coll.). Estimate those contributions in the SZČO calculator.

Art-fund contributions

The mandatory 2 % was abolished as of July 2023: collecting societies no longer withhold it on payouts. Whoever wants to support the funds contributes voluntarily, directly (Act No. 13/1993 Coll. as amended).

Reclassification risk

Moderate but real. The classic problem picture: an "author" sits in the office, works under instructions and receives the same monthly "fee" for ongoing work with no identifiable work of authorship — running social media on a schedule, proofreading texts by rota.

The defence: a clearly identified work, marks of uniqueness, payment for a specific result, no schedule and no subordination.

The mandate contract (príkazná zmluva)

One party undertakes to handle a matter or perform an activity for the other — go somewhere, buy something, organise, advise.

The key difference from a contract for work: it is an obligation of activity, not of result. The agent answers for diligence, not for the matter succeeding.

Typical uses: a one-off visit to an authority, buying a specific asset, keeping an eye on a property, one-off advice, running an event.

By default the contract is unpaid: a fee is due only when agreed, or when usual for the agent's profession. Put the amount and the due date in writing — otherwise a dispute is guaranteed.

Taxes and the €500 trap

For an ordinary person, one-off income under such a contract is "other income", and other income enjoys an exemption of up to €500 a year (§9 par. 1 ZDP).

But the exemption almost never works. The law excludes from "occasional" income anything received under a contract where the paying company or entrepreneur can deduct the fee as a tax expense (§8 par. 1 ZDP). Note the wording: "can", not "did" — the mere possibility is enough. With a payment from any company the exemption is practically off the table, and the income is taxed in full.

This is the most common mistake in practice: both sides assume no tax is due under €500.

Contributions: no social ones; health contributions arise — not as advances, but in the annual reconciliation.

Reclassification risk — high

A mandate contract by its very nature means acting under instructions and in the principal's name. That is already two of the four elements of dependent work — built into the construct itself.

It is safe only for one-off, clearly bounded tasks. For regular work — no.

The commercial mandate (mandátna zmluva)

The commercial twin of the civil mandate: the mandatary handles a defined business matter for a fee — performing legal acts in the principal's name or other activity.

The differences:

• always for a fee — with no amount agreed, the usual fee applies;
• written form is needed when the mandatary performs legal acts (plus a power of attorney);
• the subject is commercial — this is a form for relations between entrepreneurs.

Typical uses: a contract with a company director, property management, commercial representation.

When the performer is an ordinary person with no entrepreneur status, the relationship is usually classified as a civil mandate rather than a commercial one.

The contract for work (zmluva o dielo)

An obligation of result: the contractor performs the work and hands it over; the client accepts and pays.

Three regimes — depending on who the parties are and what the subject is:

In the Commercial Code version the price is a mandatory element: a specific amount, a method of determining it, or an express statement that the contract is for a fee.

The reclassification risk here is the lowest — provided the contractor's autonomy and business risk are real, not just on paper. Courts have repeatedly confirmed that repeated contracts for work do not create employment by themselves. But where ordinary directed work hid behind the "contract for work", the contracts were declared void.

How to choose

You need a work of authorship — a copyright contract. For one-off modest fees, withholding at source is simpler: no paperwork, no contributions. For large or regular ones — the self-taxation agreement: the 60 % flat expenses and the tax-free allowance outweigh the contribution cost.

You need a tangible result — a contract for work. Between companies under the Commercial Code, with an ordinary person under the Civil Code.

You need a one-off errand handled — a civil mandate. One-off only, and don't count on the €500 exemption.

You need a commercial matter handled between companies — a commercial mandate.

You need regular work under your direction — none of these contracts fits: an employment contract or a dohoda.

The reclassification risk ladder

From highest to lowest:

1. The civil and commercial mandate — "under instructions" and "in the principal's name" are built into the construct.
2. A copyright contract for ongoing work with no identifiable work of authorship.
3. A contractor with a single client.
4. A contractor with several clients.
5. A contract for work with the contractor's genuine business risk.