The overzealousness and stubbornness of the Tax Office will cost Iași taxpayers 358,000 lei. The control carried out by tax inspectors at a transport company resulted in a criminal complaint for tax evasion and the blocking of 367,000 lei, representing the presumed damage.
After 7 years, the prosecutors came to the conclusion that the company administrator had done nothing wrong, but the Tax Office refused to unlock the money, even after a court summoned him to do so. Next was a trial, and then another.
A 15-year conflict that ruined the company
The conflict between the company and the Fisc has been going on for almost 15 years. The control of the Financial Guard at Voion Trans SRL took place at the end of 2010. The inspectors came to the conclusion that the company’s administrator had not recorded income in the accounting in the amount of 1.2 million lei, for which a total damage of 367,962 lei was calculated. In January 2010, the Financial Guard blocked the amount considered as damage and filed a criminal complaint against the company administrator. If the charges were confirmed, the businessman could face up to 8 years in prison.
The investigation lasted more than 7 years. Finally, towards the end of 2018, the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Court dismissed the case, finding that the facts complained of by the tax inspectors were not provided for by the criminal law. Normally, the seizure placed on the almost 368,000 lei had to be lifted. However, this did not happen, and Voion Trans’s request to unblock the money was rejected. The company had to go to the court, which ordered in 2020 the unblocking of the accounts and the obligation of the Fiscal to pay the interest for the interval between the date of the introduction of the summons and the date of the lifting of the protective measures.
The rejection of the Tax Office, rejected at the Court of Appeal
The tax office did not pay the requested interest, so Voion Trans opened a new process. Within this, the company requested 357,817 lei, the amount of interest for the amount made available by the tax authorities from 2011 until the end of 2019. In defense, the tax authorities first invoked the lack of procedural quality. The seizure was made by the Financial Guard, an institution that no longer exists. The exception was rejected, since the Guard’s attributions, and therefore its obligations, were taken over by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF). Then, the prescription of the right to action was invoked. This was not the case, since not three years had passed since June 2019, when Voion Trans requested the unblocking of the money and the date of submission of the summons request, May 2021.
Regarding responsibility, things were clear for the Magistrates of the Court. The tax office had blocked some money that it had refused to release after the accused’s innocence had been proven. He had thus caused a damage that he had to repair, by paying an interest, established by expertise. As a result, the judges obliged the Fiscal to pay the requested 357,817 lei. The appeal declared by ANAF was rejected yesterday by the Court of Appeal, as inadmissible.
Tags: stubbornness inspectors Iasi Financial Guard costs lei state pay guilty
