Tax

Tax disputes

Advice on disputes with tax authorities

Did the tax office investigate excessive VAT deduction? You could be entitled to interest of up to 14% per annum.
Did the tax office conduct a local inquiry and subsequently initiate a tax audit? It may not be entitled to claim penalties on the tax assessed.
Are you undergoing a tax audit of a tax liability that arose more than 3 years ago? Then it may already be unauthorised.
Did the tax office refuse to accept the additional tax return for the lower tax and only accepted your appeal? You could be entitled to interest of at least 14% per annum on the reduction.
Has the tax office questioned your right to deduct VAT on the basis of facts that occurred with someone else, or just because of formal defects in the documents? Then its action may be unlawful.
Are you sure you have been assessed the correct amount of interest on late payment? And do you know that interest can be reduced or waived?
Did you know that the fine for the VAT inspection report can also be waived? However, sometimes it is better to appeal first.
Do you know when you can become a guarantor of someone else's tax?
Do you know what the tax office is entitled to demand from you and what is not your duty?
Do you know the correct way to respond to a tax return you disagree with?
Do you know when and how you can claim compensation for damages caused by tax proceedings?

There are “tax disputes” about these and other issues. Many of the above have already been successfully litigated. The quotation marks are entirely appropriate. Our aim is not to provoke and conduct a dispute with the tax authorities at any cost, but rather to find the fastest and most appropriate solution for the client. And if possible, to use all legal means to reduce the financial burden of the tax proceedings. Often this means, on the contrary, to spark off an imminent “war with the tax authority”, but unfortunately sometimes it is not possible without a dispute, and even then we look for the best way. Some of the questions raised above have only been answered by the courts.

Preventive tax advisory

Within our services provided to the clients, we are guided primarily by the motto “Vigilantibus iura scripta sunt”. In the tax proceedings, time is money.

Practical experience shows that a tax audit in which the taxpayer actively exercises his rights lasts much shorter than the one in which he only passively responds to the tax administrator's requests. The difference is evident at the latest when the tax office “issues a bill” in the form of a payment assessment for interest on late payment (which accrues retroactively, throughout the proceedings, until the tax is paid, so there is a direct proportionality - the longer the inspection, the higher the interest).

It definitely pays off to be in control of the situation from the very first step of the tax administrator and to know your rights and obligations well. An inappropriately worded statement made during the first contact with the tax office becomes very often the cornerstone of a tax assessment that is not even shaken by subsequent explanations or evidence, and is only corrected by an independent court years later.

Last but not least, it should be remembered that sometimes the payment assessment is not the end of the matter and that the tax authorities are in principle obliged to report suspected tax evasion or non-payment to the law enforcement authorities. There have also been attempts to hold the managing director of a company liable for tax arrears, who has subsequently even been asked by the tax authorities to pay the tax due as a guarantor. We have specialists for such cases as well.

We have handled the following tax law cases for our clients:

defending the right to VAT deduction or VAT exemption;
defence against unfounded accusations of involvement in VAT fraud;
defending the tax deductibility of R&D expenses or deductions, justifying the assumption and claiming tax losses;
defending against unfounded allegations of tax abuse;
international tax recovery issues;
double taxation disputes in different countries (tax arbitration and conciliation);
imposition of a levy for breach of budgetary discipline;
cancellation or mitigation of penalties imposed (penalties, interest on late payment, fines related to the control report or the electronic sales register, etc.);
defending against tax liens (seizure orders) and tax enforcement;
objection of limitation of the right to impose tax;
proving the origin of assets.