Establishment of a civic association

The name of the civic association can be in Slovak as well as in a foreign language. The name may or may not contain an indication of the legal form (suffix o.z., OZ, civic association). The name of the association may not be derogatory, offensive or interchangeable with the name of a public authority or with the name of another legal entity that already operates in the territory of the Slovak Republic. You can check the compliance in this link. You need to click on "continue without logging in", enter the desired name in the second field and click on "Full-text search ...". If no match is found, the name is free.

The seat of the association serves mainly as a correspondence address. You can have your seat in an apartment, house, or any other real estate. Most clients state the address of residence of one of the members as the seat of the association. You are not obliged to operate at the registered office address.

At least three natural persons are required for establishment, at least one of whom must be over 18 years of age. The minimum age of the founder is not specified by law, but in practice we recommend that he be at least 12 years old. The founder of the association can also be a foreigner (a person residing outside the territory of the Slovak Republic) or several foreigners, but at least one of the founders must be a citizen of the Slovak Republic.

In case you miss the founder (you must be at least three), we recommend contacting someone from the family, or. another close person. This person will only sign the proposal for the registration of the civic association together with the other founders. It does not entail any obligations and does not have any employment, contribution, tax or social consequences. If this person is not interested in being a member of the association, he can withdraw from it immediately after its establishment.

Public benefit activities - For the implementation or support of any public benefit goals, a civic association is an ideal choice, it is the most popular and most often established form of non-profit organization.

Lower taxes - The taxation of a civic association differs significantly from traditional business companies, such as stocks or Ltd. Under certain conditions, a large amount of income can be considered as tax-exempt income; this, of course, does not apply to an association which carries on a purely business activity.

2% of the tax - One of the important possibilities of financing a civic association is the possibility to collect 2% of the paid tax of natural or legal persons. Take advantage of the opportunity to collect 2% of the tax yourself.

Subsidies - There are a large number of opportunities for non-profit organizations and thus also for civic associations to draw subsidies and grants designed to support their activities of general interest and goals.

Business - The civic association is entitled to support business in its activities. More and more clients are taking advantage of the opportunity to do business with a civic association.

At least three individuals are required to establish and formation a civic association. After the establishment  the minimum number of members is not specified by law. This means that after the establishment, only just one person / member can be in the association.

Simply put, if the association does not carry out any activity and has no income, then it has no obligation (tax, tax, accounting, etc.). In that case, he is not even required to file a tax return. The responsibilities of the civic association as a result will depend on the nature of the activities it will carry out and the income it will have. With reference to the above, it is therefore important to assess the obligations of the civic association on a case-by-case basis.

Yes, it is mandatory to keep simple accounts. If a civic association runs a business (has issued a trade license) or its income exceeds € 200,000 per year, it is required to keep double-entry bookkeeping.

It is very fast with us, we usually send the founding documents to clients within 24 hours of receiving payment. However, the ministry currently takes about 30 to 60 days to register (Information updated in February 2022). The Ministry does not comply with the legal deadline of 15 days for the registration of the association, resp. due to the large amount of the agenda.

After processing the registration of the civic association at the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, we will send you or. We will hand over the statutes of the association stamped by us in person at our office in the office, confirm the assignment of the ID number and also be the only one to hand over the prepared minutes of the meeting of the appointing body compared to the competing portals. You will need the minutes for the proper functioning of the association, for example to open a bank account.

If you are interested in collecting 2% of the tax, you can collect it with an existing association a year earlier than when setting up a new association. If you need to function and carry out activities through the association as soon as possible, then by purchasing a ready-made civic association, you can already on the day of signing the documents - immediately then. You become the owner (chairman, member) at the moment of signing the documents. When establishing a new association, it takes about 30-60 days for the ministry to register the association. The Ministry does not comply with the legal deadline for registration of the association of 15 days, respectively due to the large amount of the agenda.

No, the civic association is not obliged to have a bank account, it is voluntary. However, if you plan to collect 2% of the tax from the association, you will need a bank account.

In order for a civic association to receive 2% of the tax, it must register with a notary in the list of recipients of 2% of the tax. Registration takes place every year only between 1 September and 15 December. The main condition for the association to be able to register to receive 2% of the tax this year is that it was established last year or earlier (2021, 2020, 2019, etc ...). This means that if we now set up a civic association for you, you will not be able to register as a recipient of 2% of the tax until 2023, and the first 2% funds will come to your account in 2024 (for the 2023 tax period). If you would like to collect 2% of the tax for this year 2022, we have for sale our civic associations that we founded in 2021. These associations can receive 2% a year earlier compared to the association that we would establish for you now . Our associations did not carry out any activities and are without any obligations and were established only for the purpose of resale. We contractually guarantee the indebtedness of our associations. We can transfer such an association to you, and of course the change of name, registered office, activities and statutes to yours is also required. Learn more about this service in this link.

Both legal forms belong to non-profit organizations. Confusion and ambiguity is caused in particular by the fact that non-profit organizations include the legal form of the same name "non-profit organization providing services of general interest". Many clients approach us with a request to establish a non-profit organization. However, we always contact our clients to consult together whether they are interested in founding a civic association or a non-profit organization providing services of general interest. After clarifying that a civic association is also a form of non-profit organization and explaining the differences between them, many clients eventually decide to establish a civic association. Unlike a non-profit organization, a civic association is a legal form with a simpler structure and functioning. In a non-profit organization, you will need at least 5 people to join the bodies (3 people, board of directors, director and auditor). One person is enough in the civic association - the chairman. Other people will only be members. The non-profit organization has one additional obligation compared to the civic association, namely the annual publication of the annual report in the register of financial statements. As for taxes, accounting, subsidies, collecting 2% of the tax, obtaining gifts and the like, they are in exactly the same situation. We have discussed this comparison in more detail in this article.

Yes, with the standard establishment of a civic association, the price of € 99 + € 66 is the final administration fee. The price is for standard articles made by us. More than 90% of clients use the standard establishment of a civic association at this price. In case of interest in a more complex adjustment of the articles, the so-called "tailor-made" (other bodies than the chairman and the membership meeting, specific adjustment of powers based on the client's requirements, etc.) we approach the preparation of documents separately and on the basis of this there is an individual pricing of the service.

At the standard establishment price of € 99 + € 66 administrative fee, we provide you with our verified and drafted articles of association. If you would like to use your own, we would have to analyze the statutes provided by you and possibly adjust them so that they are suitable for registration by the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. If you insisted that we use your articles of association, we would also have to draw up individual minutes of the appointing authorities, which we prepare for clients by default, so that they can prove them in important tasks (eg opening a bank account, etc.) . The above-mentioned actions would be performed by us beyond the scope of the standard establishment and therefore they are not included in the price for the standard establishment of € 99 + € 66 administrative fee. Of course, if you wish us to use your articles of association and modify them, send them to us and we will prepare a non-binding price offer for our services.

Have you received the documents prepared from us and do you want to make additional changes to the articles of association? When it comes to cosmetic changes that do not require any time, so it is not a problem, we will incorporate the change. However, in the event of any more demanding changes (structure of bodies, adjustment of authority, etc.), we always inform clients that this is a service beyond the pre-agreed procedure and it will be necessary to choose additional pricing of the service. Of course, all of the above is implemented strictly after thorough analysis and agreement with the client.