Tax Treaty Case Law around the Globe 2025

1. Introduction

Slovakia introduced a novel concept of a permanent establishment (PE) arising through a digital platform into its income tax legislation in 2018. Under the amended provision, the repeated intermediation of transport and accommodation services, including those facilitated via a digital platform, was deemed to constitute conducting business through a fixed place of business in Slovakia. This represented a legal fiction expanding the domestic definition of a PE beyond the traditional requirement of physical presence.

The Slovak Income Tax Act (ITA) defined a digital platform as a hardware or software platform needed to create and manage applications. The term essentially encompasses modern technological business models that facilitate the exchange of information among multiple user groups - particularly between end-users and asset owners or service providers. Such platforms are accessible to third-party users and developers, share data openly, and are designed to be intuitive and easily usable without formal training. They thus represent an innovative, user-oriented business architecture.

It is evident that this legislative measure targeted globally operating companies su...