Recently, AADE has sent emails to thousands of taxpayers to submit additional declarations, mainly relating to the year 2018, in order to avoid the statute of limitations for their processes at the end of the year.
It should be noted that the calls in question, which mainly concern cases related to the issuance and receipt of tax data, which are being investigated if they are fictitious, are being sent because there are approximately 50 days until December 1st, when the AADE should have completed the notification of temporary acts of corrective tax assessment.
This deadline applies because, according to legislation, taxpayers have a period of 20 days, counting from the moment of notification of this act, to respond to the auditors’ conclusions and document any errors due to which the amounts payable may have been paid. calculated at excessively high levels.
The extra advantage
By sending these emails, however, AADE gains another advantage, because according to the legislation, if the rectifying declaration is presented within the fifth year of the statute of limitations, the statute of limitations is extended for another year, even if the extension only applies to the matter to which the amending statement relates.
Thus, with this measure, the fiscal control mechanism can effectively “block” pending processes that expire at the end of this year and transfer the prescription to the end of 2025.
It should be noted that on December 31, 2024, the statute of limitations for the State’s right to definitively impose taxes and fines expires not only in the 2018 income tax and VAT processes, but also in the following tax processes:
a) Income tax processes relating to the year 2015, for which late initial declarations were submitted in 2021.
For these cases, the original 5-year limitation period, which normally expired on 31-12-2021 (5 years from the end of 2016 in which the original declaration should have been submitted in due time) was extended for more 3 years, until 12/31/2024, because the original declarations were filed in the last year (fifth year) of the normal 5-year statute of limitations.
b) Income tax cases relating to the year 2013, for which, after the end of the normal limitation period of 5 years, that is, after 31-12-2019, “additional data” came to the attention of the authorities tax results from the examination where it was found that the taxable amount was higher than that declared and that the declarations presented were inaccurate.
c) VAT processes relating to the year 2013 in which a first tax audit was carried out within the normal five-year limitation period, i.e. until 31-12-2019, but, after this date, “additional information” arrived to the attention of the competent tax authorities, whose examination revealed that the taxable amount was higher than that declared and that the declarations presented were inaccurate.
The tax audit services (Audit Center for High Wealth Taxpayers, Audit Center for Large Companies, Audit Centers and DOU) also focus their audits on the cases mentioned above, in order to notify in a timely manner the acts of final corrective assessment of the tax, so that the public does not lose the right to certify and collect substantial amounts.
Of course, it is important to note that the limitation period for each case is proportional to the category of tax in question (income, VAT, real estate, etc.) if there is tax evasion or if no tax declaration has been submitted.
What is checked
Furthermore, based on the instructions given by AADE, inspectors check and cross-check:
- electronic records of salary or pension certificates, remuneration from business activity and income from dividends, interest, royalties.
- available data relating to other income and objective costs of living or acquiring property, which are sent annually or included in the last year preceding the year for which the act of estimated tax determination is issued, in the submitted income declaration and in the declaration of each year, as appears from the AADE Integrated Portfolio Information System.
- the electronic database, available at AADE and which may relate to the exercise of professional or business activity, as well as from data received as part of the exchange of information for the implementation of international administrative cooperation in the field of direct taxation.
- any information available from third parties.
Taxpayers receiving “tax estimate determination deeds” have the following two alternatives:
a) pay in a single payment, within 30 days from notification of the “acts of estimated determination”, the amounts indicated therein,
b) submit, within 30 days of notification of the acts, the income tax declarations due for the year 2018, in order to, based on these declarations, issue regular income tax declarations (acts administrative determination) relating to the 2018 fiscal year in which the amounts determined in their weight will be increased by the prescribed amounts of fines and late payment interest.
Either way, accepting the audit results can reduce fines by 50% but prolongs the audit for at least a year.