«Caught» tax returns of thousands of taxpayers remain in the AADE funds due to insufficient data or supporting documents on the part of 130,000 beneficiaries, thus delaying their payment.
Around 130,000 taxpayers have not collected 190 million ECU.
In most cases, beneficiaries have not declared a valid bank account (IBAN), have no update their contact details or have not provided the necessary supporting documents requested by the tax services to complete the procedure.
Thus, while tax and VAT refunds have been registered and are available, they remain «frozen» until the recipients are found.
The tax refunds
On the basis of information from the General Accounting Office of the State for April from outstanding tax refunds of EUR 737 million, the 191 million cannot be paid due to the fault of the beneficiaries.
The problem of outstanding returns lies high on the tax administration agenda, which has set the main priority for reducing delays and speeding up payments.
The new automated model is coming where so-called 'the- «Gold List» ACE
Particular emphasis is placed on applications that remain pending for more than 90 days, as the aim is to drastically limit their number within the next months.
The revised operational plan of the ADE provides for a reduction in the reserve of outstanding refunds of more than 90 days to 700,000 cases by the end of the year.
This number includes cases excluded from direct processing, such as returns in court, cases of mutual administrative assistance with other countries, small amounts of refunds up to EUR 5 that are offset centrally, but also cases that are delayed by taxpayers themselves.
The new model
At the same time AADE activates a new model with automated procedures to limit outstanding returns focusing on applications remaining on standby for more than 90 days.
The design provides that at least 95% of the VAT refund requests will be processed within 90 days, while the requests will be assessed through risk analysis systems to speed up payment of legal refunds. At the same time, an important role in the new model will continue to play the so-called «Gold List» ADE.
This includes businesses and professionals with consistent tax behaviour, who can enjoy faster tax returns.
Criteria such as the history of tax controls, the absence of tax and customs infringements and the non-interference in suspected intra-Community transactions are taken into account for inclusion in the list. With these interventions, the tax administration is seeking to limit «stock» of outstanding issues, reduce bureaucracy and channel more quickly into the market hundreds of millions of euros currently remaining «frozen», enhancing the liquidity of households and businesses.
Source: OT
