November 29, 2024
On November 28, 2024, amendments to the Investment Promotion Act (OG 136/24) came into effect.
The relevant amendments are as follows:
- In addition to sectors previously excluded from the Act, the tourism sector, accommodation services, and food preparation and serving activities have also been excluded.
- For non-repayable financial grants for creating new jobs, the thresholds for the registered unemployment rate as a prerequisite for using the grant have been lowered, and the maximum nominal amount of the grant has been increased as follows:
– Registered unemployment rate in the county > 10% (previously > 15%) – maximum grant amounts to up to 30% of eligible expenses for creating a new job (max. ≤ 15,000.00 euros per newly created job (previously 9,000.00 euros))
– Registered unemployment rate in the county 5% – 10% (previously 10% – 15%) – maximum grant amounts to up to 20% of eligible expenses for creating a new job (max. ≤ 10,000.00 euros per newly created job (previously 6,000.00 euros))
– Registered unemployment rate in the county < 5% (previously < 10%) – maximum grant amounts to up to 10% of eligible expenses for creating a new job (max. ≤ 5,000.00 euros per newly created job (previously 3,000.00 euros))
- For non-repayable financial grants for capital investment costs, the required number of new jobs associated with the investment project for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises has been reduced from 50 to 30, and the thresholds for the registered unemployment rate as a prerequisite for using the grant have been lowered, with the maximum nominal amount of the grant increased as follows:
– Registered unemployment rate in the county > 10% (previously > 15%) – maximum grant amount of 20% of eligible investment costs in fixed assets (max. ≤ 2,000,000.00 euros (previously 1,000,000.00 euros))
– Registered unemployment rate in the county 5% – 10% (previously 10% – 15%) – maximum grant amount of 10% of eligible investment costs in fixed assets (max. ≤ 1,000,000.00 euros (previously 500,000.00 euros))
- New support measure has been introduced for activities of strategic importance for the transition to a climate-neutral economy within the framework of support for high value-added activities in the form of increasing non-repayable financial grant for creating new jobs related to the investment project by 50%
- For large investment projects (above 50,000,000.00 euros), the adjusted amount of support has been increased in accordance with the increased thresholds for notifying regional support (110,000,000.00 euros).
- The calculation of the tax base for applying the reduction of corporate income tax rate when calculating the investment tax incentive has been aligned so that the incentive applies only to the profit generated from the business activity related to the investment project, excluding income from capital, rental, interest, and intellectual property – for investment projects starting from January 1, 2025.
