Patra’s Administrative Court of Appeals annuls tax authority’s decisions imposing taxes and fines of total €1.9 million

By judgments no. 662-667/2018 Patra’s Administrative Court of Appeals, acting on first and last instance, accepted the claims of a legal entity (general partnership) and annulled decisions of the tax authority imposing income tax and VAT, as well as fines under the VAT Code and the Code of Accounting Books and Records (KVS), totaling approximately € 1.9 million, for violations relating to the receipt of invoices during years 2003-2005 which according to the tax authority, following a repeat audit on the basis of supplementary evidence, did not represent actual transactions.

The court accepted the argument on the basis of the evidence presented by the claimant that, with regards to the KVS fine, the transactions for which the invoices were issued were real, without having to conclude on the counterparty to those transactions, since that issue was not under examination before the court.

With regards to the claims on income tax and VAT, the court took into consideration that the invoices under question were examined by the tax authority during its initial audit with regards to their context and fines were imposed for improper settlement of said invoices under law.  Based on that finding, the court accepted that the tax authority was in a position, had it shown due diligence during its initial audit, to take appropriate action and investigate the validity of said invoices and, therefore, such invoices could not be admissible as supplementary evidence and the tax authority unlawfully issued supplementary income tax and VAT decisions imposing additional taxes and fines.

Elias Golfinopoulos acted on behalf of the claimant.