On December 16, 2014 Regional Administrative Court in Gdańsk issued an important ruling on the issue of interest, which taxpayer can demand from tax authorities. The demand will be justified, when taxpayer previously paid the tax, resulting from a tax decision, which was later repealed by higher authority or administrative court. What is more, regulations of the Tax Ordinance Act provide that taxpayer may demand such interest only if the tax office may be held responsible for the decision being repealed. The practice of the tax authorities of issuing tax decisions just before the end of a period of limitation, often leads to the situation, that such decisions are repealed and the proceedings redeemed due to the expiration of the limitation period. Then tax authorities refund the paid tax but without interest, claiming that they may not be blamed for the decision to be repealed – they are of the opinion that the repeal is a result of objective circumstance (limitation period).
Regional Administrative Court in Gdańsk reasonably questioned this approach. It stated undoubtedly, that the tax authority issuing the decision just before the limitation period, is responsible for its repeal because of limitation. Therefore, it must also pay interest.
