TPA Romania obtains in court EUR 1 million in excise tax for client

TPA Romania obtains in court EUR 1 million excise tax refund for client active in industrial production. High Court ruling sets precedent on interpretation of fiscal authorities practices in relation to taxpayers.

After a 6-year litigation, TPA Romania lawyers have successfully argued the case of industrial production company Austrotherm Romania, a subsidiary of an Austrian multinational group specialized in thermal and noise-insulating products, present in multiple CEE markets. The Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice, Administrative and Fiscal Litigation Chambers, upheld twice (both in first litigation cycle and subsequently in the retrial of the case) TPA Romania lawyers’ fiscal challenge and ordered the fiscal authorities to refund EUR 1 million in excise taxes to the taxpayer, via final ruling.

According to Dan Iliescu – TPA Romania Legal Partner, the lawyer who successfully argued the case in front of the Bucharest Court of Appeal and Romanian Supreme Court throughout the litigation course – the ruling obtained is particularly relevant, not only in the field of indirect taxation, but for any fiscal dispute on procedural aspects, as the decision sets an important precedent in the positioning of Romanian courts with respect to fiscal authorities practices in relation to taxpayers.

The Romanian Supreme Court recognized the taxpayer’s legitimate expectation principle invoked by the lawyers at TPA Romania in the (overregulated) Romanian fiscal procedure field and upheld this principle by ruling that a taxpayer’s claim which is valid in substance, observing all requirements on the essence of the matters, may not be denied by the fiscal authorities on the grounds of procedural requirements nonobservance, as long as such nonobservance of procedural prerequisites was not invoked (or has been, explicitly or even implicitly encouraged) by the authorities on previous interactions with the respective taxpayer, in similar circumstances.

TPA Romania Legal practice, through its affiliated legal offices, has been successfully assisting Romanian and foreign businesses for over 20 years, offering a wide range of legal advice, assistance and dispute resolution services.