The Tax Code amendment was not approved

On Wednesday morning, April 22, 2020, the Chamber of Deputies discussed, but did not approve the amendment to the Tax Code with the necessary majority. The draft amendment to the Tax Code had previously been passed by the Senate, which proposed its amendments. The deputies did not approve either these senate changes or the wording proposed by the previous government. The amendment is not passing for now.

The amendment brought several significant changes (positive and negative) – it was supposed to allow the return of the undisputed part of the excessive deduction, to extend the deadline for VAT refunds (from 30 to 45 days), to change the deadlines for filing tax returns (for example by granting extension when filing electronically), to change the current sanction system (for example by unifying the amount of individual interest) or to enable the creation of the “MOJE daně” portal for online communication with the tax administrator.

98 deputies voted in favor of the bill, while 101 votes were needed for approval. Given this small difference, and also according to the reactions of various politicians across the political spectrum, it is now not entirely clear whether this was a mistake or whether Members were deliberately trying to prevent the changes.

If it was a collapse of the coalition vote, it can be assumed that the text of the amendment will appear in the Chamber of Deputies soon again. If not, then we will probably see the changes in a matter of months, perhaps with another tax package as of 1 January 2021.

I would like to point out that even though the amendment to the Tax Code, including the rules for returning the undisputed part of the over-deduction in the form of advances, was not approved, the tax administrator's obligation to return the part of the over-deduction which he does not consider controversial was in fact allowed by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. This means that even without a change in the law, companies can require the tax administrator to return the unverified (unquestioned) part of the excess deductions without undue delay. However, it will be necessary to an initiative. I assume that the tax authorities themselves will not voluntarily return the undisputed part of the excessive deduction.