In Slovakia, customers rallied to defend an ice cream vendor from tax inspectors

A tax inspection scandal has erupted in the Slovak town of Humenné, where café patrons on the main square rushed to defend a stallholder when financial administration inspectors showed up to check his till. The incident took place on August 11, when the inspectors bought a small mixed ice cream for €1.20 (about 30 CZK) to see whether the receipt was being issued correctly.

According to Slovakia's financial administration, the vendor took the payment and handed over the ice cream but didn't immediately enter the sale into the electronic cash register. The inspectors identified themselves about fourteen minutes after the purchase, and the receipt was printed a few minutes later — roughly sixteen minutes after payment had been made.

Rumours of a receipt dispute

A version of events quickly spread on social media claiming the tax office had come down on the vendor simply because a customer hadn't taken their receipt. Locals insisted the ice cream seller always issues receipts, and that customers themselves often leave them on the counter or toss them away. Many saw the inspection as yet another example of authorities being overly heavy-handed with small businesses.

Tensions rose when the inspectors showed their IDs and tried to document the violation. According to the financial administration's secretary, customers present at the scene began verbally attacking the officials and obstructing the inspection. Police were called at 4:51 PM, arrived at 5:10 PM, and stayed until the inspection concluded.

Witnesses claim ice cream was even thrown at the inspectors, though the financial administration denies this — the secretary's official report makes no mention of such an episode. There's also no evidence supporting social media claims that inspectors were forced to flee from angry customers.

Financial administration stands its ground

The agency stated that no on-the-spot fine was issued during the August inspection — the case was instead referred for further administrative review. Officials stressed, however, that this isn't the first such incident involving this vendor. Over the past twelve months, the stall has been inspected six times, with irregularities in revenue reporting found on three occasions.

Following a similar violation detected in May, the café was already fined €1,500 (roughly 36,228 CZK). The financial administration insists the issue isn't about a missing receipt, but suspected delays in registering payments through the eKasa system.

The lángos vendor precedent

A similar case had already drawn public attention in Slovakia. Anton Pašek, owner of a lángos stand in Kvetoslavov, was likewise fined €1,500 by the financial administration — this time for missing diacritical marks on a receipt. He corrected the error within 20 minutes, but the fine still had to be paid, so with a lawyer's help, he filed an appeal.

After the appeal and extensive media coverage, the fine was overturned, the money refunded, and the financial administration's then-leadership publicly apologized to Pašek for the inspectors' conduct. The head of the financial administration, Jozef Kiss, personally met with Pašek at a press conference on May 18, acknowledged procedural errors, and announced that further inspection would be halted.

Shortly after this incident, Anton Pašek died suddenly at the age of 50. His business first announced on Facebook that it would be closed from June 10 to 15 due to family circumstances, and only later did news of his death emerge.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz