The most problematic are: the deletion of Article 7 (which currently allows auditors and accounting firms to provide tax advisory services), the requirement that licensed tax advisors must hold majority ownership and management rights in advisory companies, and the short six-month compliance deadline.

AmCham warns that these changes would:

• prevent auditing and accounting firms from offering tax services, despite employing the largest number of professionals and serving thousands of clients, including foreign investors,
• reduce availability of quality services given the very small number of licensed tax advisors in Croatia (only 52),
• increase costs and complexity for taxpayers,
• undermine Croatia’s competitiveness in attracting foreign investment.

AmCham’s recommendations:

• retain Article 7 of the current Act,
• extend the compliance deadline from 6 to at least 36 months to allow smaller service providers to adjust.