Application for reopening tax proceedings - template with discussion

The resumption of tax proceedings is one of the so-called extraordinary procedures provided for in the tax ordinance. Read the article and see when you can launch it and what the application for reopening should look like.

The reopening of the proceedings

The reopening of the proceedings concerns a situation where the taxpayer remains convinced that his case ended with a defective tax decision. He may also submit such a request when the decision has become final.

Important! If the taxpayer does not appeal against the decision of the tax authority within 14 days, such decision becomes final and may not be appealed against to a higher level authority. However, one of the possibilities to revoke the final decision is to submit an application for the resumption of the proceedings.

Application for reopening of proceedings - when can it be submitted?

The circumstances for which the taxpayer may request the reopening of the proceedings have been exhaustively listed in Art. 240 of the Tax Code. The most common ones are described below.

Important! The proceedings are resumed ex officio or at the request of a party.

New facts relevant to the case or new evidence existing on the date of the decision, unknown to the authority that issued the decision, will come to light

As regards new facts or new evidence, the tax authorities have expressed their views in numerous interpretations. For example, the Supreme Administrative Court stated in its judgment (reference number II FSK 2145/12) that new circumstances or evidence (...) meet the following features: they are new, existed on the date of the decision, are relevant to the case and were not known to the authority that issued the decision. In such a situation, it may be any evidence in the case, e.g. a document or testimony of a witness.

The party did not take part in the proceedings through no fault of its own

Such a situation may occur when the tax authority conducting the proceedings fails to notify the party about the evidence taken or the possibility to comment on the collected evidence. Such an application should be submitted within one month of learning about the decision.

The evidence on the basis of which the relevant facts were established turned out to be false

It is about a situation where another tax authority found that one of the evidence that was the basis for issuing the final decision is false. Thus, when submitting an application for the reopening of proceedings, a court decision confirming that the evidence has been forged should be attached

Other grounds for resuming the proceedings are provided for in the tax ordinance

Other premises that may constitute the basis for submitting an application for the reopening of the proceedings include:

• the decision was issued as a result of a crime;

• the decision was issued by an employee or a tax authority, which is subject to exclusion pursuant to art. 130–132;

• the decision was issued without obtaining the position of another authority required by law;

• the decision was issued on the basis of another decision or a court ruling, which was then revoked or changed in a way that may affect the content of the decision issued;

• was issued on the basis of a provision which was declared inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, by statute or by a ratified international agreement by the Constitutional Tribunal;

• a ratified double taxation avoidance agreement or other ratified international agreement to which the Republic of Poland is a party has an impact on the content of the decision;

• the result of a completed mutual agreement procedure or an arbitration procedure conducted on the basis of a ratified double taxation avoidance agreement or other ratified international agreement to which the Republic of Poland is a party has an impact on the content of the issued decision;

• the judgment of the European Court of Justice has an impact on the content of the issued decision.

Final of the procedure to reopen the procedure

After conducting the tax proceedings, the authority issues a decision in which:

• repeals the existing decision in whole or in part, if it finds the existence of premises, and in this respect decides on the merits of the case or discontinues the proceedings in the case;

• refuses to revoke the current decision in whole or in part, if it does not find the existence of certain premises,

• refuses to revoke the current decision in whole or in part, if it finds the existence of premises, but:

• as a result of the repeal, only a decision deciding the essence of the case could be issued, as the previous decision, or

• the issuance of a new decision on the merits of the case could not take place due to the lapse of time limits.