croatia

GENERAL INFORMATION
STATE AUTHORITY
ECONOMY
CULTURE
SPORTS
ADDRESSES
CROATIAN SPECIALTIES
• goods may remain within a zone for an unlimited period of time
• on goods stored in a zone no customs duties or taxes are levied nor do other economic measures apply
• zone users pay profit tax reduced to 50% of the standard rate (i.e. 10%)
• users who build or participate in the construction of infrastructure facilities within a zone, the value of
which exceeds one million HRK, are exempted from paying profit tax in the first 5 years of doing business.
Free zones can be established in a seaport, river port, along international roads and in other areas in which
conditions for their operation exist. A free zone may be established on the basis of a concession granted by
the Croatian Government. The concession to establish a zone is granted on the basis of a public tender or a
public bid collection. A zone may be founded only by domestic persons. Domestic and foreign legal entities or
natural persons can be zone users. They carry out an economic activity in a zone on the basis of an agreement
made with the founder of the zone. All business activities may be carried out within a zone (production of
goods, refinement of goods, wholesale trade, intermediation in trade, banking transactions, services, insurance
and re-insurance services etc.), except for retail trade, which is explicitly prohibited.
Entrepreneurial freedom and free market are the foundations of the
T axation System
Croatian economy. The Republic of Croatia guarantees the same legal
position in the market to all entrepreneurs, domestic and foreign. The Republic of Croatia also guarantees
to foreign investors that they can take the profits and invested capital out of the country at any time. The
Croatian taxation system is comparable with the taxation systems of the EU member states and is based on direct
and indirect taxes.
Croatia honours all double taxation agreements made between the former Yugoslavia and other countries and
has already signed new international agreements on avoiding double taxation with numerous other countries.
The current tax system includes the following taxes:
• profit tax,
• income tax,
• value-added tax
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