The state plans to collect 2 billion kuna from the new, extra profit tax, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Thursday, stating that the tax should cover the 200 largest Croatian companies.

The government has worked out a model for the introduction of an extra profit tax, according to which companies in Croatia which have an average annual revenue of more than 300 million kuna and which in 2022 had a profit that was 20% higher than the average in the previous four years, would be taxed at a rate of 33%.

Sources familiar with the proposed new extra profit bill told the daily that the model, which is being mulled over and has not been defined definitively, could bring the state an additional 1.5 to 2 billion kuna in 2023, depending on how much profit companies will report. The new tax, which was proposed at the level of the European Union to help citizens during the energy crisis, would affect the largest companies in Croatia, which number around 200.

These are companies in the energy sector, banks, large retail chains, the food and financial sectors, as well as IT companies, which is why the proposal has been criticised by some coalition partners and even some prominent HDZ members have doubts.

The European Union’s idea was to apply the new tax to oil and gas companies and then use that revenue to help the most socially vulnerable citizens whose electricity and gas bills are rising. The Croatian government, on the other hand, has decided to go one step further and all companies that have annual revenues of more than HRK 300 million and a profit increase of more than 20% will be eligible, including those that did not profit from the energy crisis.

The daily’s sources said that everyone in the ruling coalition and in the HDZ supports the tax being introduced and that it will be introduced, but the details are still being worked out. The aim is to target, more precisely, businesses that make extra profit, but there is concern that the tax could also affect those that do not, the sources told the daily.