Your Guide to Challenging Decisions of the Greek Tax Administration

Administrative appeal procedure

Where a taxpayer disputes any decision issued against them by the Tax Administration, they must lodge an administrative appeal requesting a review of the decision within the framework of an administrative procedure by the Dispute Resolution Directorate (DED) of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR), in accordance with the following procedure:

The taxpayer submits the administrative appeal electronically via their Taxisnet account, together with the following documents: a) an application for suspension in the case of a standalone submission,

• The administrative appeal must be lodged with the tax authority that issued the decision within thirty (30) days of the date on which the decision was notified to the taxpayer and must state the grounds and the documents on which the taxpayer bases their request.

(b) the documents and supporting evidence relied upon, accompanied by a solemn declaration under Article 8 of Law 1599/1986, certifying the accuracy of the contents of the electronic file. ****

• Within seven (7) days of submission, the Tax Office shall forward the administrative appeal, accompanied by the relevant documents and its observations, to the Tax Appeals Board, so that the latter may reach a decision.
• If the Tax Appeals Board deems it necessary, it may summon the taxpayer to a hearing. Should new evidence be submitted to the Tax Appeals Board or new facts be invoked, the taxpayer must be summoned to a hearing.
• Within one hundred and twenty (120) days of the submission of the administrative appeal, the Administrative Court shall issue a decision, which it shall notify to the person liable. If, within the above time limit, no decision is issued, the administrative appeal is deemed to have been rejected by the Administrative Court of Appeal and the person liable is deemed to have been notified of this rejection upon the expiry of that time limit.
• The time limit for examining the administrative appeal may be extended by a further thirty (30) days from its expiry, provided that the taxpayer submits new evidence or invokes new supporting documents during the period of the last thirty (30) days prior to the expiry of the deadline for the Tax Appeals Board’s response.
• If the decision annuls, in whole or in part, or amends the tax authority’s decision, the Tax Appeals Board must provide sufficient grounds for that decision (based on legal and/or factual arguments). In the event that the administrative appeal is dismissed, the grounds may consist of accepting the findings of the relevant tax assessment. In any event, the decision must specify at least the taxpayer’s final tax liability, the amount assessed and the deadline for payment.

Proceedings before the ordinary administrative courts:

Against the decision of the Administrative Court of First Instance or the implied rejection of the administrative appeal due to the expiry of the time limit for issuing the decision, the liable party may lodge an appeal within thirty (30) days of the date of notification of the decision or the implied rejection before the competent Administrative Court. In this case, provided that the disputed amount exceeds 150,000 euros, the competent court in the first and final instance is the Three-Member Administrative Court of Appeal, with no right of appeal against any decision dismissing the appeal. It should be noted that territorial jurisdiction depends on the seat of the tax authority issuing the decision (e.g. if the decision is issued by the Kilkis Tax Office, the Three-Member Administrative Court of Appeal of Thessaloniki has jurisdiction). However, under specific conditions, an application for cassation may be lodged with the Council of State against the decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal.

* The information is accurate to the best of our knowledge as at the time of writing. We have no obligation to update it. We accept no responsibility against any third party who is not a client of the firm and has not signed the terms of our engagement.