Rafał Broll
Overpayment versus the determination of an amount of tax obligation - following the resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court of 27 January 2014, II FPS 5/13.
Summary
On 27 January 2014 the Supreme Administrative Court adopted the following resolution: “In the case of contesting corrected tax return filed along with an application for statement of overpayment, pursuant to Art. 75(3) of the Act of 29 August 1997 – Tax Ordinance, the tax authority before examining this application is not obliged in every case to initiate proceedings to indicate the amount of tax obligation, referred to in Art. 21(3) of the aforementioned Act”. The author puts forth previously expressed views regarding the need of prior indication of the amount of tax obligation in order to adjudicate on the amount of overpayment and analyses said resolution in this context, indicating the innovative concept expressed therein. He criticizes the view contained in the grounds for the resolution that it is possible to state an overpayment without prior assessment of the new, lower amount of the tax obligation and the view that the corrected tax return filed with an application for statement of overpayment does not have a substantial legal effect. Furthermore, the author believes that the resolution challenges the structure of tax overpayment and presents how, in his opinion, said issue should be resolved.