Dear readers,
Please find below information about a recent judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court (the “SAC”) that dealt with the deadline for filing an additional tax return for a lower tax.
Section 141 (1) of the Tax Code sets forth that a taxpayer is obliged to file an additional tax return for a higher tax (i) by the end of the month following the identification of reasons for such return’s filing (the subjective deadline), whilst (ii) the obligation to file the return shall exist as long as the deadline for the tax’s determination runs (the objective deadline).
In addition to this, the Tax Code sets forth in Section 141 (2) that a taxpayer is authorised to file an additional tax return for a lower tax within the same deadline that applies to the filing of an additional tax return for a higher tax (refer to the previous paragraph).
Existing Judgments and Administrative Practices
Existing judgments have confirmed practices of the Financial Administration whereby the subjective deadline for filing an additional tax return for a lower tax (by the end of the month following the identification of reasons for the filing) is a lapse period (see for example the SAC’s Judgment No. 5 Afs 237/2018-41 dated 23 November 2020). As a result, it was impossible to file an additional tax return for a lower tax after the deadline’s expiry.
Decision of the SAC’s Extended Panel Dated 5 September 2023 (2 Afs 363/2019-50)
The recent decision of the SAC’s Extended Panel diverted from the existing interpretation whereby an additional tax return for a lower tax cannot be filed after the subjective deadline’s expiry.
The SAC concluded in the above-mentioned judgment that the subjective deadline shall not be applied in such case. In this context, the SAC referred to a number of convincing reasons, including one of the fundamental goals of tax administration, which is identification and determination of tax in the correct amount.
Hence, the Supreme Administrative Court’s judgment specified above has changed the existing administrative practices in a direction that is positive for taxpayers.
In the event of an additionally filed tax return for a higher tax, the subjective deadline by the end of the month following the month, in which the taxpayer identified this fact, shall continue to be applied.
Michaela Kozminská Lenka Kolmanová
kozminska@edmutilitas.cz kolmanova@edmutilitas.cz