KARAKITIS TAX & LAW wins a Euro 75 mil tax case at court

The case involved an out-of-books corporate income tax and VAT assessment extending to three fiscal years of a company which had discontinued operations before the commencement of the tax audit. The administrative court of appeal of Athens ruled that the first two fiscal years have been statute barred, whilst, for the third one, that the tax authorities should have visited the closed premises of the company to find out by themselves whether any accounting books and records located there can enable the carry out of the necessary tax audit verification procedures. The fact that the tax authorities had repeatedly invited the company’s representatives to provide them with the accounting books and records was not sufficient to justify the determination of the taxable profits and the VAT basis out-of-books, which is a method of ultimate resort. The total amount of corporate income tax, VAT and penalty assessed by the tax audit authorities and annulled by the court amounted to Euro 75 mil.

The case involved an out-of-books corporate income tax and VAT assessment extending to three fiscal years of a company which had discontinued operations before the commencement of the tax audit. The administrative court of appeal of Athens ruled that the first two fiscal years have been statute barred, whilst, for the third one, that the tax authorities should have visited the closed premises of the company to find out by themselves whether any accounting books and records located there can enable the carry out of the necessary tax audit verification procedures. The fact that the tax authorities had repeatedly invited the company’s representatives to provide them with the accounting books and records was not sufficient to justify the determination of the taxable profits and the VAT basis out-of-books, which is a method of ultimate resort. The total amount of corporate income tax, VAT and penalty assessed by the tax audit authorities and annulled by the court amounted to Euro 75 mil.