On January 1 2015, Act No. 360/2014 Coll., came into effect, amending Act No. 235/2004 Coll., on value-added tax. The adoption of this amendment means that some flats which were previously classified as social housing (and thus, were subject to a reduced VAT rate), may now fall in the ordinary VAT bracket.
Although the tax rates for residential and social housing buildings are substantially unchanged, the adoption of Act No. 360/2013 Coll. means that for many developers, the VAT rate will shift from 15% to 21%. The amendment to the Value-Added Tax Act came in response to government ordinance No. 366/2013 Coll., which, among other things, imposed a new procedure for calculating the floor area of a flat (such space now includes, for example, floor area covered by built-in objects). Under the Value-Added Tax Act, until December 31, 2014, the calculation of floor area for the purpose of determining VAT was based on the internal walked-on surface of the flat (i.e. excluding areas covered by built-in objects). The amendment to this Act brings an increase in the floor area of flats for VAT purposes and also means that certain flats now fall in the category subject to the ordinary rate.