Business trip legislation in Europe | Series – Part 1: Slovakia

Business trip:

Every employee has a defined place of work in the employment contract. If, on the employer’s order, the employee performs the agreed type of work in another place, it is a business trip.

Consent:

When does the employer need employee’s consent for sending him on a business trip? It happens in cases when it is not defined in the employment contract that he will carry out business trips, the sending on business trips does not result from the nature of the agreed type/place of performance of work, or it is a business trip outside the municipality.

Duration of a business trip:

The maximum duration of a business trip is not determined by law. The business trip lasts from the time the employee starts the trip, including the performance of work in the given place, until the end of this trip, which means that the travel to the place of work and back is also considered as a business trip.

Mode and form of posting:

The employer determines in writing the place of starting the business trip, the place of work, the duration of the business trip, the place of end of the business trip, the type of transportation, and possibly other conditions of the business trip. The law does not specify any paper form as binding.

Private car:

The employee can agree in writing that he will use his own motor vehicle on the business trip. In that case, the employee is entitled to basic compensation for every 1 km and compensation for fuel consumed.

Meals by a domestic business trip:

The employee is entitled to a meal allowance for each calendar day of the business trip, the amount of the meal allowance depends on the duration of the business trip, while the duration of the business trip is divided into time zones: 5 to 12 hours, over 12 hours to 18 hours and over 18 hours. If the business trip lasts 2 calendar days and lasts less than 5 hours on each calendar day, even then the employee is entitled to meal allowance in the amount established for the time zone of 5 to 12 hours. It is the same in the case of several business trips within one calendar day, each of which lasts less than 5 hours. If the total duration of business trips is more than 5 hours, the employee is entitled to meal allowance.

Meals by a foreign business trip:

In the case of a foreign business trip, the right to compensation in euros or in foreign currency begins with the crossing of the border, the departure or arrival of the plane, the departure or arrival of the ship from/to the port. If an employee visits 2 or more countries within one calendar day, he is entitled to a meal allowance for the country in which he spent the longest time, taking into account the time zone of the sum of the duration of the business trip for the given calendar day abroad. If the employee spent the same number of hours in each country, he claims the highest meal allowance.

Reduction of a meal allowance:

If the employer provides free meals to the employee, the entitlement to meal allowance is reduced, or he is not provided with meal allowance. The amount of the reduction depends on whether the employee was provided with a meal allowance in the form of breakfast (25% reduction), lunch (40% reduction) or dinner (35% reduction). The reduction is made from the amount of the meal allowance for the time zone over 18 hours, or from the highest agreed amount of meal allowance.

Advances:

During a foreign business trip, the employer can provide the employee with advanced money (beware – which is taxed) in credits or foreign currency up to 40% of the meal allowance.

Advances for compensations:

The employer is obliged to provide the employee with an advance payment for compensation up to the amount of anticipated compensation when sent on a foreign business trip. The advance can be provided in the form of a traveler’s check, by borrowing the employer’s payment card or by transfer to the employee’s account. The advance can be provided in EUR or foreign currency, depending on where the employee is sent on a business trip.

Expenses declaration and refund payments:  

The employee is obliged to submit to the employer the written documents necessary for the calculation of compensation no later than 15 working days from the day of arrival at the place of work in the territory of the Slovak Republic. Reimbursements are payable within 10 working days from the date of submission of the written documents, but no later than the end of the calendar month following the calendar month in which the written documents were submitted.

Travel reimbursements:

Those are the reimbursements which employer is obliged to provide:

• meal,
• reimbursement of proven travel expenses (travel ticket, plane ticket, taxi, public transport ticket),
• reimbursement of proven accommodation expenses,
• secondary expenses (phone fee, fax fee, fee for using the Internet, parking fee, fee for the highway, tunnel),
• reimbursement of proven travel expenses for trips to visit his family (if the business trip lasts more than 7 consecutive calendar days, every week, but the longest in one month),
• commercial insurance and mandatory recommended vaccinations for foreign business trips.

These compensations are not subject to self-employment tax.

Business trip management in TULIP is separated to 2 parts:

• business trip request (plan)
• settlement

Business trip planning

Before going on a business trip, the employee should initiate and complete a business trip form in TULIP. A business trip request can also be created by a direct manager on behalf of his subordinates or a person responsible for entering plans and settlements for the entire company. The business trip can be sent for approval to the responsible manager or other approvers in accordance with the company’s internal rules.

The business trip planning requests to fill in details about destination, planned costs, advance payment and more details related to the business trip plan.

After submitting the request of business trip by employee, the manager is informed by a notification and can approve, reject or delete the request.

Before going on the business trip, employee can request an advance payment.

Business trip settlement

The settlement can only be created after the business trip plan has been approved. After filling in any other required information for the employee, such as the exact timing of the trip, meals or additional costs, the result of the settlement will be displayed directly in the form. The XLS document is generated by the system automatically. The employee is responsible for uploading all receipts and other accounting documents.

The responsible manager or approver is notified and asked to check the correctness and approve (or reject) the business trip. After the approval, the files are ready for the accounting team to process and pay the result of the settlement.

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