Tax Bill Stings Retired Norwegian in Croatia

A retired Norwegian man, who now lives in Croatia and has since acquired Croatian citizenship, got a shock this week when he received some post from the Croatian tax authorities. The pensioner opened the mail to find that he owed nearly 100,000 kuna (13,000 EUR) in taxes.

Not so long ago Croatia introduced a tax on foreign pensions being received in the country, so the Norwegian did the honourable thing and informed the local authorities about his Norwegian pension. Croatia has three tax rates it taxes foreign pensions under, 25, 37.5 and 40%, with the Norwegians falling under the highest tier.

“In Norway I paid 15% tax on my pension. Croatia introduced the tax on foreign pensions and I willingly last year reported it to the tax authorities her. I think that its fair that I pay tax here since I live here. But, when I see how much the tax is, I realise it is 40% of my pension. I was really unpleasantly surprised. That (99,000 kuna) is the amount for just 9 months, which means for 2013 I will have to pay 120,000 kuna (16,000 EUR),” the man, who moved to Croatia 12 years ago and since has married a Croatian, told Dubrovacki list.

“I did not come to Croatia so the state can take most of my pension. I want to pay tax like everyone else, but 40% is on the verge of robbery. Why can’t I pay 15-20% like other Croatian citizens? I don’t expect that the government will change the law because of me, but there are thousands of others,” he said, adding that in Slovenia and Austria the same tax is between 8-10%.