Taxpayer’s defense against tax assessment sheet
1. Appeal or Administrative resolution of dispute
a. Appeal
Under Article 66 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, an appeal regarding tax and customs disputes is generally exercised within thirty (30) days of its statutory serving to the person concerned or in any other case of him being shown to be fully aware of its content.
b. Proposal to resolve an administrative dispute and / or lodge an appeal under Article 70 of the Income Tax Code.
The debtor, against whom the sheet is issued, if he doubts its correctness, may also request, beyond the appeal against it, the administrative resolution of the dispute between him and the head of the competent tax office (in this case, the Tax Office FAE Piraeus). The proposal for an administrative resolution to the dispute is submitted to the Head of the Tax Office that issued the assessment sheet, with the appeal case file or with a special application submitted within the legal time limit for an appeal.
After considering all the documents in the case file and the evidence presented by the taxpayer, the Head of the Tax Office may, if he considers the request for administrative resolution valid, accept the cancellation of the tax assessment sheet or the removal of income from a few sources or the reduction of the total taxable property referred to on the sheet or of just a few sources either from the same source or from the tax or other right.
A request for administrative resolution of the dispute may also be submitted with a specific application, ie. not by its inclusion in the appeal case file. In this case, the 30-day time limit for lodging an appeal is suspended on submission of the application and continues from the next business day after the signing of the act of cancellation or settlement of the dispute.
c. Settlement of the administrative dispute as an exception under Article 70A of the Income Tax Code.
As an exception to the afore-mentioned procedure, Article 70A of the ITC also allows the taxpayer to submit an application to the Committee on Administrative Resolution of Tax Disputes (hereinafter EDEFD) at the Ministry of Finance for the administrative resolution of dispute in each tax category and provided the contested difference in the main tax, duty, levy or fine does not exceed the amount of 50,000.00 Euros.
It must be noted that the above Committee is solely responsible for the administrative resolution of disputes that exceed the amount of 300,000.00 Euros. In this case, for the taxpayer to lodge an appeal in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Code, it is required, on penalty of inadmissibility of the appeal, that the application for inclusion in the administrative dispute resolution process must have taken precedence, which has the character of an administrative appeal, while it must be completed, regardless of outcome. The application is submitted to the competent tax authority within 60 days of notification of the act of tax assessment. The decision of the competent body on the afore-mentioned administrative appeal is issued no later than 4 months from the receipt of the application for it.
It should be noted that for the above differences that do not concern an amount over 300,000.00 Euros – when the submission of application for administrative settlement should be addressed solely to the EDEFD -, the submission of the request for administrative resolution of the dispute by EDEFD precludes the submission for the same case of another request for administrative dispute resolution under other applicable procedures.
The request for administrative resolution of the tax dispute by EDEFD is submitted to the tax authority and forwarded, together with the relevant documentation, to EDEFD within 10 days after submission.
2. Assessment of tax
a. Finalization of the amount in the assessment due to non-submission of appeal or following a compromise.
The Head of the competent Tax Office confirms the tax, initial or additional, that appears on the assessment sheet, provided it has been finalized either by administrative resolution of the dispute or non-submission or overdue submission of appeal. The tax confirmed by the assessment sheet that was finalized, due to non-submission or late submission of the appeal, is payable in 6 equal monthly installments of not less than 300 Euros, apart from the last one. The first installment shall be paid by the last working day of the month following confirmation and the rest by the last working day of the months that follow.
When the tax is confirmed after the administrative resolution of the dispute, in which case 1/5 of the amount must be paid within 2 days of the signing of the settlement, the balance is payable in 6 equal monthly installments, apart from the last one. The first installment shall be paid by the last working day of the month following confirmation and the rest by the last working day of the months that follow. If the debtor pays the total amount resulting from the administrative dispute resolution within the deadline for payment of 1/5, then a discount is given on this at a rate of 5%.
b. Confirmation of tax after appeal
Failing administrative resolution of the dispute and the lodging by the taxpayer of a timely appeal, the Head of the Tax Office immediately confirms 50% of the main disputed tax, additional tax and other taxes and duties confirmed with it.
c. Confirmation of tax in the event of provisional tax assessment being issued
According to Article 74 para. 9 of the Income Tax Code, in the event of a provisional tax assessment being issued, the lodging of an appeal to the administrative court shall not suspend the provisional confirmation of tax, which is paid in a lump sum.
3. Suspension of execution under Article 200 of the Code of Administrative Procedure
In each case where the deadline or lodging of appeal does not include the statutory suspension of the contested individual administrative act and if in this particular case suspension has not been granted by the competent administrative authority, it may, following an application by the person who lodged the appeal, be suspended, by a brief reasoned court decision, on all or part of the execution of this act.
The application for suspension is accepted only if the applicant pleads and proves that the immediate implementation of the disputed act will cause him irreparable damage or if the court considers that the appeal is manifestly unfounded.
Especially for tax, customs and disputes with a financial claim, the court orders the suspension of the execution of the act, of the part that involves taking one or more coercive measures for collection of payment or administrative measures to coerce or ensure the collection of the debt, provided the applicant proves that the damage invoked, comes from these measures.
In each case, the application is rejected:
a) if the action is manifestly inadmissible or unfounded, even if harm to the applicant from the direct application of the contested act is irreversible, and
b) if during the weighing up of the harm to the applicant, the interests of third parties and the public interest, it appears that the negative consequences of acceptance will be greater than the benefit to the applicant.
An application for suspension includes with a penalty the inadmissibility of its execution, a declaration in which the applicant states: a) his worldwide income from all sources and b) his assets in Greece and anywhere else abroad.
Where the applicant is a legal person, its income worldwide from all sources is declared, as well as the assets anywhere in Greece and abroad of legal persons linked to the applicant, as well as of natural persons who in accordance with the applicable provisions are individually responsible for the tax and customs obligations of the legal entity. A related legal entity for the implementation of the above means a connection by direct or indirect substantial administrative or financial dependence or control, due to the share of the legal entity applicant in the capital or management of another legal person or due to the share of the same persons in the capital or administration of both legal entities.
The hearing of the application for suspension takes place in council, but the litigants are not summoned thereto. As an exception the Court may summon them and hear them.
Furthermore, the presiding judge may, upon request, issue a temporary order suspending execution until a decision on the application for suspension is issued, which is registered under this application.
4. Fee for appeal.
Under Article 277, paragraph 3 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, in tax and customs disputes of a financial nature in general, the fee for the appeal is set at an amount equal to 2% of the disputed amount and up to the sum of 10,000 Euros. The action is dismissed as inadmissible if upon submission of an application initiating proceedings, 1/3 of the fee is not paid by the debtor and the other 2/3 by the first hearing of the case.