Several thousand incorrect judgments of one court. “The case is bizarre”
The issue of the Supreme Administrative Court's approach to the tax authorities' abuse of criminal fiscal proceedings in order to interrupt the running of the statute of limitations is one of the darkest pages in the history of the judiciary. Over the years, at least several thousand incorrect, thoughtless judgments have been issued.
The case I SA/Go 37/24, heard by the Provincial Administrative Court in Gorzów, is downright bizarre. The court dismissed the appeal against the decision refusing to discontinue the enforcement proceedings due to the statute of limitations. He argued that the notice of initiation of fiscal penal proceedings effectively suspended the limitation period when it was sent to the taxpayer only one year after the discontinuation of the fiscal penal proceedings.
Income tax without enforcement, but with proceedings
The facts were as follows. In 2015, the authority issued a decision specifying the corporate income tax liability for 2013. The decision became final, and despite this, the authority did not initiate enforcement. However, a year after the decision was issued, criminal fiscal proceedings were initiated, criminal charges were brought against the president, and then in 2017, the criminal proceedings were discontinued due to the lack of grounds for initiating them.
In 2018, the Supreme Administrative Court adopted the first resolution I FPS 1/18, related to the effects of initiating fiscal penal proceedings interrupting the limitation period, in which it reminded that it is necessary to notify the taxpayer of this fact before the expiry of the limitation period for the tax liability.
