Slovenian Financial Administration has issued an explanation regarding VAT identification in road transport of passengers (see original news in Slovene here).
In short: company, who is responsible for road transport of passengers, must identify itself for Slovenian VAT. This company is either:
a) a bus company (selling tickets, maybe organising trips…) or
b) a travel agency (might rent a bus from a vehicle rental company or bus company).
The decisive argument is taking responsibility for transport, regardless of contractual arrangement.
Example 1: tickets are sold by travel agency, bus company performs transport and takes responsibility for it. In this case bus company must register for VAT in Slovenia, although it did not sell tickets.
Example 2: tickets are sold by travel agency, bus company is hired to perform transport, responsibility is taken by travel agency. In this example travel agency must register for VAT in Slovenia. Bus company in this case has just rented a vehicle (does not matter if bus company also uses its own driver).
We know very well how complicated it is to get Slovenian VAT ID and fulfill all compliance requests. Probably some of the bus companies try to avoid this by using travel agencies’ VAT IDs, thus acting just as a company who rents a bus. Financial administration has clearly said this is not possible.
We are experienced in VAT compliance services for bus companies, using regular or simple special scheme. Please do call us at +386 8 2055 950 or mail us at info@semafor.si to get our offer. We can save you time and energy by taking responsibility for VAT administration.