RETURN CONDITIONS
According to the provisions of paragraph 1 of article 34 § 1 of Law 2859/2000 (VAT), it is stipulated that: “1. Without prejudice to the provisions relating to the limitation period, the tax is refunded if: a) it was paid to the State in an undue manner from the outset or b) the undue payment arises from a consequential reason in the following cases: i) it is impossible to carry it over for deduction to a subsequent management period or in the event of its being carried over for deduction, this deduction was not possible or ii) it concerns transactions provided for in the provisions of paragraph 2 of article 30, as well as transactions for which, by decisions of the Minister of Finance, a suspension of the payment of the tax is provided for or is due to a difference in output-input rates or iii) it concerns investment goods provided for in the provisions of paragraph 4 of article 33”.
CARRIED-OVER OF THE REMAINDER TO THE FOLLOWING YEARS:
The VAT credit balance that arises at the end of a management period in a construction company can be carried forward for deduction to the following period. (Law 2859/2000, article 32, paragraph 3). However, there is a restriction according to which the credit balance cannot be carried forward consecutively to the following years for a period longer than three or five years, as we will see below.
APPLICATION FOR VAT REFUND:
The liable-taxable person has the right to submit an application for a refund of the balance of the VAT whose offset with output VAT was not possible. (Law 2859/2000, article 32, paragraph 3)
THIRD TIME FOR VAT DEDUCTIONS FOR CASES UNTIL 31/12/2013:
Article one of Law 4254/2014 states that: “In article 66 of Law 4174/2013, as in force, after paragraph 42, new paragraphs 43 and 44 are added as follows:
Para.43. If, by submitting an amended tax return or by means of an independent request or in any other way, concerning a tax year, management period or tax case, until the entry into force of the Tax Procedure Code, a tax refund claim is made, for matters relating to the statute of limitations, the provisions in force until the entry into force of the Code shall apply.
Para. 44. Since the entry into force of the Tax Procedure Code, any request to the Tax Administration for an administrative or judicial settlement is considered inadmissible and is not examined. The provision of the previous paragraph, regardless of time limitations, also applies to cases that could have been subject to any of the provisions of articles 70A and 70B of Law 2238/1994.
Therefore, the limitation period for cases up to 31/12/2013 is three years from the date of timely submission of the tax return, or from the date of timely submission of the extraordinary tax return in cases where there is no obligation to submit a tax return, which concerns the management period in which the right to deduct VAT arose. Therefore, the VAT refund application must be submitted within three years from the date of timely submission of the tax return concerning the management period in which the right to deduct VAT arose or from the date of timely submission of the extraordinary tax return in cases where there is no obligation to submit a tax return (paragraph 5, article 57 of the same Law 2859/2000, which states the following in detail:
The claim against the State for a tax refund shall be time-barred after three (3) years from the date of timely submission of the tax return relating to the management period within which the right to deduct the tax arose or after three (3) years from the date of timely submission of the extraordinary tax return in cases where there is no obligation to submit a tax return. In the event of failure to submit or late submission of the above tax returns, the claim against the State for a tax refund shall be time-barred after three (3) years from the date on which these tax returns should have been submitted on time.
The claim against the State for a tax refund is revived from the notification of the tax assessment act, for an equal period of time, provided that a request for refund has been submitted before the limitation period of the claim and the limitation period has expired, without the request being satisfied or rejected with justification due to the fault of the State. As for other matters, the provisions on public accounting as in force at the time apply.
The provisions of article 93, paragraph b’ of Law 2362/1995 (Public Accounting), as in force at the time of submission of the application under consideration, stipulate that: Upon submission to the competent public authority of an application for payment of the claim, in which case the limitation period shall begin anew from the date indicated in the written response of the Authorizing Officer or the authority competent for payment of the claim. If the competent public authority does not respond, the limitation period shall begin after six months from the date of submission of the application. Submission of a second application shall not interrupt the limitation period again.
DISCIPLINARY OFFENCE
Failure to satisfy the request for return or the unreasoned rejection thereof in writing before the expiry of the limitation period constitutes a disciplinary offense punishable in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Code. (Law 2859/2000, article 57, paragraph 5, last paragraph)
FIVE YEARS IS THE VAT DEDUCTIBILITY PERIOD FOR CASES FROM 1/1/14 AND AFTER:
As of 1/1/2014, the limitation period is valid for five years. That is, for management periods before the implementation of the VAT Act (1.1.2014), the provisions of article 57 of the VAT Code apply, namely a three-year limitation period from the timely submission of the tax return, while for management periods after the implementation of the VAT Act (1.1.2014), the provisions of the VAT Act (articles 36 and 42) apply, which generally provide for a five-year limitation period, from the end of the year in which the deadline for submitting the last tax return expires. This is derived in combination from the provisions of articles 36 and 42 of Law 4174/2013, namely:
Article 36, paragraph 1, of Law 4174/2013 reads as follows:
PAR.1 The Tax Administration may issue an administrative, estimated or corrective tax assessment within five (5) years from the end of the year in which the deadline for submitting a return expires. In cases where the submission of more than one return is required for a given tax, the issuance of the act of the previous paragraph may be made within five (5) years from the end of the year in which the deadline for submitting the last return expires.
Article 42 of Law 4174/2013, paragraphs 1 and 4, reads as follows:
PAR. 1 If the taxpayer is entitled to a tax refund, the Tax Administration, after offsetting the tax owed by the taxpayer with the amount to be refunded, proceeds to refund any resulting difference.
PAR. 4. The claim for a refund of tax (and VAT), which was paid unduly, is time-barred at the time when the right of the Tax Administration to issue a tax assessment act is time-barred, in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 36 of the Code with regard to the respective tax liability from which the claim for refund arises.
WHEN THERE IS NO ANNUAL CLEARANCE RETURN, WHEN DOES THE FIVE-YEAR PERIOD BEGINS FOR THE VAT DEDUCTIBILITY OF CONSTRUCTION BUSINESSES
The five-year period begins at the end of the year in which the deadline for submitting the tax return expires. For example, for the VAT refund of 31/12/2014, if the deadline for submitting the return is 31/1/2015, then the five-year period in which this refund is valid is 31/12/2020. (Law 4174/2013, article 36, paragraph 1)
CREDIT BALANCE TRANSFER
The credit balance carried forward for deduction to a subsequent period is offset by priority against the output tax of that period and subsequent periods until the limitation period. The credit balance resulting from the transactions carried out in a management period is carried forward for offset within the following three years and is offset by priority against the output tax of the subsequent tax periods of those three years in relation to the input tax resulting from the transactions carried out in those periods. From 1.1.2014 with the implementation of the CPT, the limitation period is five years for credit balances and, accordingly, the limitation period is five years for the transfer period:
According to POL.1100/25-06-2010, which notified the provisions of articles 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 and 81 of law 3842/23.4.2010, it was clarified that: “Claim against the public Until the publication of law 3842/23.4.2010 (Government Gazette 58A), the limitation period for the claim for a VAT refund against the public was regulated by the provisions of law 2362/1995 on public accounting. However, misunderstandings have arisen due to the specificity of VAT (transfer of credit balance, etc.) and as a result, frictions between taxpayers and the Tax Authorities. For this reason, it was deemed necessary to rephrase them and incorporate them into the VAT Code. The new provisions of paragraph 5 of article 57 maintain the same limitation period for claims against the public sector as defined in the provisions of the public accounting act for the refund of unduly paid taxes (three years), but clarify the starting point of this period in each case, whether it is a settlement or an extraordinary declaration (even in cases where the relevant declarations were submitted after the deadline).
Thus, the claim for a tax refund against the public authority is time-barred after three years from the submission of the tax return or extraordinary declaration, as the case may be, which was also the case under the previous provisions, provided that the tax return or extraordinary declaration constituted the starting event of the consequential reason from which the three-year period began. In the event that the above declarations are submitted after the deadline, the limitation period is completed at three years from the date on which these declarations should have been submitted within the deadline.
Finally, the reference to the provisions of paragraph 7 of article 84 of the Income Tax Code regarding the revival of the claim against the public in the event of notification of a tax assessment act is repealed since the corresponding application is not possible and an identical provision is introduced defining the cases as well as the time of revival of the right. Thus, the claim against the public for a tax refund is revived from the notification of a tax assessment act, for an equal period, that is, for three years from the notification of the act, only if a request for refund has been submitted before the time of limitation of the claim, and the limitation period has expired, without the request being satisfied or the justified rejection thereof, due to the fault of the public. For all other issues, suspension, interruption, consequences of limitation, etc., the provisions on public accounting as in force at any time apply.