In Slovakia, taxi service is not an ordinary trade licence but requires a concession (koncesia) under the Road Transport Act. A driver working through Bolt or Uber needs the concession, a taxi driver’s certificate, cash-register (e-kasa) recording of sales and VAT registration under § 7a before the very first ride when cooperating with a foreign platform. The taxable income is the whole fare, not the amount left after the platform’s commission.
Driving through an app looks simple: you switch on the phone, take orders and money arrives in your account. The tax and administrative reality, however, differs from that of an ordinary sole trader. Taxi service has its own law, its own permit and its own recording obligations — and that is exactly where penalties most often arise. We go through them step by step, with figures valid for 2026.
Does a Bolt or Uber driver need a trade licence or a concession?
Taxi service is not operated on a trade licence but on a concession under Act No. 56/2012 Coll. on road transport. It is issued by the district office at the regional seat, is valid for a maximum of ten years and the administrative fee for granting it is 30 euros. The applicant must be legally capable, have a clean criminal record and have at least one vehicle, which is registered directly in the concession.
Driving without a concession does not pay off even as a side income. Operating a taxi service without a permit carries a fine from 100 to 15,000 euros, and more for repeated breaches. Platforms such as Bolt and Uber also verify a valid concession and driver’s certificate when registering a partner, so without these documents they usually will not let you drive.
What must a driver have before the first ride?
Besides the concession, a driver needs a taxi vehicle driver’s certificate, issued on request for an administrative fee of about 50 euros, and a vehicle meeting the conditions for passenger transport. Mandatory third-party insurance and a valid technical and emissions inspection are a matter of course.
The second obligation is recording sales through e-kasa. Taxi service falls under it, and if you accept a cash payment, you must issue the passenger a receipt — in practice most often through a virtual cash register, i.e. the Moja pokladnica app. For payments made directly through the app, the platform usually issues the passenger a confirmation of the fare paid, but always check the exact scope of the recording obligation under the current wording of the rules, as sales-recording rules for taxi service were tightened from 2026. Failure to issue a receipt carries a fine from 1,500 to 20,000 euros.
When must a taxi driver register for VAT?
This is the biggest trap of the whole field. Since both Bolt and Uber are foreign platforms and invoice their commission as a service from another member state, you have an obligation to register for VAT under § 7a before the first ride — regardless of turnover. You then declare and pay Slovak VAT on the received commission (self-assessment), but you have no right to deduct it.
Registration under § 7a does not yet make you a full VAT payer — you can still apply flat-rate expenses and do not charge VAT to passengers. You become a full payer only after exceeding turnover of 50,000 euros, or immediately if a single supply exceeds 62,500 euros.
How to correctly report income from Bolt and Uber?
The most common reporting mistake is that a driver declares only the amount actually credited to the account. The taxable income, however, is the whole fare paid by the passenger, not the amount after the commission. You then claim the platform’s commission (usually 20–25 % of the ride) separately as a tax expense based on the monthly statement from the platform.
Example: a passenger pays 12.50 euros for a ride, Bolt deducts a commission of 2.50 euros and sends you 10 euros. Income includes 12.50 euros and expenses 2.50 euros — it is not correct to declare only the 10 euros received. Platform work is also subject to automatic reporting under the DAC7 directive, so the tax authority knows your app earnings anyway.
The car in business: depreciation, fuel and VAT
The vehicle is a taxi driver’s main working tool, so costs related to it are the core of tax optimisation. A passenger car is depreciated in the first depreciation group evenly over four years; for an electric vehicle the depreciation period is shorter. You claim fuel on the basis of documented receipts, but the condition is keeping a trip log, which proves that the consumption relates to the business.
With VAT, caution applies from 2026: if you also use the vehicle privately, the VAT deduction on the car and related costs is limited. For a taxi driver this means cleanly separating business and private rides.
How much does a driver pay in contributions and taxes?
In the first year of business, social insurance is not paid, and the obligation arises only based on income after filing the first tax return. From the second year, however, you must reckon with minimum self-employed contributions, which in 2026 amount to 303.11 euros to the Social Insurance Agency and 121.92 euros to the health insurer, together 425.03 euros per month.
For expenses, a taxi driver can choose between the flat rate of 60 % of income (no more than 20,000 euros per year) and tax records of actual expenses. Unlike purely “office” trades, a driver has high real costs for fuel, servicing and car depreciation, so tax records are often more advantageous than the flat rate.
Which expenses can a driver claim and where do they go wrong?
Typical deductible expenses of a taxi driver include:
- fuel, servicing, tyres and car washing,
- depreciation or lease instalments of the car and both mandatory and comprehensive insurance,
- the Bolt or Uber platform commission from each ride,
- a phone, data plan and a holder or accessories for the car,
- administrative fees for the concession and driver’s certificate.
There are four most common mistakes: driving without a concession, failing to register under § 7a before the first ride, missing e-kasa for cash sales, and declaring only the net income after commission instead of the whole fare. Each of them can lead to an additional tax assessment and a fine during an inspection. Anyone who watches these four points from the start turns app driving into calm business without unpleasant surprises.
With platform taxi service, what matters most is setting up VAT, e-kasa and car costs correctly from the very first ride. We will gladly help you set up records and taxes so that more is left to you and an inspection has nothing to criticise.
FAQ
Is a trade licence enough to drive through Bolt, or do I need a concession?
A trade licence is not enough to operate a taxi service. You need a concession under the Road Transport Act, issued by the district office at the regional seat, and a taxi vehicle driver’s certificate. Platforms such as Bolt and Uber verify a valid concession when registering a partner. Driving without one is operating a taxi service without a permit and carries a fine from 100 to 15,000 euros.
Must I register for VAT even with low turnover?
Yes. Since both Bolt and Uber are foreign platforms and invoice you the commission as a service from another EU country, you have an obligation to register under § 7a before the first ride, regardless of turnover. You declare Slovak VAT on the commission but have no right to deduct it. You become a full payer only after exceeding turnover of 50,000 euros.
What do I record as income — the whole fare or the amount after commission?
Income includes the whole fare the passenger paid, not the amount left after deducting the commission. You claim the platform’s commission separately as a tax expense based on the monthly statement. If you declared only the net amount after commission, you would tax less than the law requires and risk an additional assessment and a penalty during an inspection.