TPA Romania has successfully represented Austrotherm Romania before the High Court of Cassation and Justice in a dispute with Romania’s fiscal authorities over excise taxes.
Austrotherm Romania is a part of Austria’s Schmid-Industrie-Holding and is a producer of thermal and noise-insulating products. The company operates three factories in Bucharest, Arad, and Horia.
TPA reported that, after a six-year litigation, the court ordered the fiscal authorities to refund EUR 1 million Austrotherm paid in excise taxes.
According to TPA, “[the court] recognized the taxpayer’s legitimate expectation principle invoked by the lawyers at TPA Romania in the (over-regulated) Romanian fiscal procedure field. [In] other words, a taxpayer’s claim which is valid in substance, observing all essential requirements, may not be denied by the fiscal authorities on the grounds of procedural requirements that have not been observed - as long as the authorities did not invoke them on previous interactions with the respective taxpayer, in similar circumstances.”
TPA’s team was led by Legal Partner Dan Iliescu.
