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Entrepreneurs have to file tax declarations in certain areas. We explain what a tax application actually is, whether you can be liable and what you need to pay particular attention to.

According to § 150 (1) sentence 3 AO, the tax declaration is a tax declaration in which the taxpayer calculates the tax himself. It is therefore an instrument of self-disposition and contains two parts. On the one hand, it consists of declaring the tax bases and, on the other, calculating the tax. Consequently, the tax filing is both tax return and tax assessment in one. The power to declare taxes must be required by law. The most important cases are the VAT advance declaration, the payroll tax declaration, the capital gains tax declaration and the special excise declarations.

The tax application acts as a tax assessment subject to verification (§ 168 AO). As a result, the tax office can cancel or change the registered tax. This also means that, in the absence of a written administrative act, the financial authority does not need to be informed of any legal remedy. Therefore, the appeal period is not extended to one year according to § 356 paragraph 2 AO. The tax declaration is therefore title for the collection procedure and also for the enforcement procedure. Consequently, a corresponding performance bid is superfluous, so that in particular no new tax ruling is required. The determination of the tax is only necessary if the determination leads to a tax different from the declaration or if the person liable does not lodge the declaration.

Therefore, not only taxpayers but also mere tax payment obligations can be subject to tax filing, i.e. persons who have to withhold and pay a tax on behalf of a third party, the taxpayer. Then the payer, the liability debtor and the tax debtor are not identical. Where the declarant and the debtor are different, the effect of the tax declaration shall apply directly to the declarant. Indirectly, however, the taxpayer is also affected, as he has to tolerate the tax deduction. Therefore, the taxpayer has the right to challenge the tax declaration. However, there is no tax assessment against him. The parties subject to the declaration and the obligations to pay must be liable for the tax liability.

If the tax application leads to a reduction of the tax to be paid so far or to a tax refund, the effect of a tax assessment shall apply subject to verification only if the tax authority agrees and this has been announced to the person entitled. A reduction in the tax to be paid thus far occurs, for example, if the tax declared in the annual VAT return is lower than the tax paid in the VAT advance declaration.

If the consent is not given, the tax declaration does not act as a determination. Until the approval or deviating tax determination, there is therefore a suspended state. During this period, the tax application is to be qualified as an application for tax assessment within the meaning of § 155 (1) sentence 3, paragraph 5 AO. The approval of the tax office regularly lies in the payment of the registered refund or remuneration. This also applies if, for example, the taxpayer registers a remuneration in a VAT advance declaration, deducts this remuneration from the tax of the following month when registering for the following month, but the tax office does not indicate that it does not agree.

There is no deadline for consent. However, if the tax authority does not give the consent within a reasonable period of time, the objection of inaction is permissible. It should be noted that the consent only triggers the effect of a determination subject to verification and can therefore be swiftly verified without definitive damage to the Treasury.

If the tax application has not been filed correctly or not at all, the special tax notice to be issued should be considered as title. Therefore, the law to simplify the procedure waives the liability notice. In place of the liability assessment is therefore the tax assessment. It shall also be deemed to be a title against the person subject to registration and payment. However, it remains the option to claim the taxpayer by liability notice. Therefore, both the liability notice and the tax notice apply against him. The tax office does not have to justify why it makes the claim in one of the ways. It should be noted that the liability notice can only be withdrawn according to the stricter requirements of § 130 AO, while the tax notice can be made subject to review.

If a taxable person subsequently, but before the expiry of the determination period, finds that the tax return submitted is incorrect or incomplete and that a reduction in taxes can occur as a result, he is obliged to report this immediately and correct his return. Several possibilities can be considered:

The applicant can correct the tax declaration. That corrected tax declaration shall also have the effect of a revised tax assessment subject to verification. If the taxable person corrects the tax declaration in his favour, he shall require the approval of the tax administration.

The declarant and also the tax debtor can apply to the tax office to amend or cancel the tax declaration, which is deemed to be tax assessment and subject to verification. In addition, they have the opportunity to challenge the incorrect tax declaration with the objection.

The delay surcharge sanctions the late or omitted tax declaration. This is linked to the duration of the delay and the amount of the tax fixed. The amount of the delay surcharge is at the discretion of the authority in the context of tax declarations. The absolute maximum amount is 25,000 euros. As a rule, the delay surcharge is set together with the tax. However, it is an independent administrative act.

The delay surcharge does not exclude the enforcement of coercive measures, the fixing of default surcharges and interest. The reason for this is that it is linked solely to the late or omitted submission of a tax return and thus is not directed against a late tax payment and has no interest character.

According to § 167 paragraph 2 AO, the tax application is also deemed to be submitted in time if it is received by the competent tax office in good time. Therefore, the taxpayer can submit the tax application, without delay consequences, together with the cheque to the cash tax office on time. On the other hand, he cannot submit the cheque in time together with the tax application to the tax office. Consequently, the latter case may result in late payment surcharges. The scheme concerns the countries in which the tax office and the tax office are divided due to the centralisation of the financial funds.

The applicant can challenge the incorrect tax application or the deviating tax assessment by means of an objection. This makes sense especially if the taxpayer assesses a situation differently from the tax administration, but does not want to suspect tax evasion. The one-month first for the submission of the objection begins with the receipt of the tax application at the tax authority or with the notification of the consent. The taxpayer also has a corresponding right of objection.