Greece: Filing of amending tax return after expiry of statute of limitation period

The Public Revenue Authority (PRA) has released Circular POL 1114 on 22^nd July 2016 to provide clarification regarding the filing of an amending tax return following the expiry of the statute of limitation period. The Circular says that Opinion No. 14/2016 of the Legal Council of State was approved by the General Secretary of the Public Revenue Authority. On the basis of this Opinion, the PRA notes in the Circular that an amending tax return can be either a “supplementary” tax return or the “recalling” of a tax return. Here, a supplementary tax return comes from an increase in the taxpayer’s tax liability and a recalling of a tax return results from a decrease in the taxpayer’s tax liability. A supplementary tax return is obligatory and a recalling tax return is optional for the taxpayers. Taxpayers should note that the filing of a recalling tax return will be possible until the announcement of the launch of an audit procedure or until the expiry of the statute of limitation period, during which period the tax authorities can impose taxes/fines. The Circular also says that the filing of the first category amending tax return is lawfully accepted by the tax authorities regardless of whether it is filed before or after the expiry of the statute of limitation period.