Austria / Supreme Administrative Court

Anonymous vs. Federal Finance Court
Policy area
Taxation
Deciding body type
National Court/Tribunal
Deciding body
Supreme Administrative Court
Type
Decision
Decision date
22/04/2022
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:AT:VWGH:2022:RA2021130087.L00
  • Austria / Supreme Administrative Court

    Key facts of the case:

    The appellant requested from the tax authority that his tax arrears (especially additional VAT claims) be waived. After the tax office rejected the appellant's application, he filed an appeal with a request for a hearing. The Federal Finance Court dismissed the appellant's appeal as unfounded without holding a hearing.

    Key legal question raised by the Court:

    The complainant argued that the Federal Finance Court had deviated from the case law of the Administrative Court on the requirements for holding an oral hearing.

    Outcome of the case:

    The Supreme Administrative Court annulled the contested decision in its entirety due to violation of procedural rules. According to the case law of the Federal Administrative Court, the failure of the Federal Finance Court to hold an oral hearing constitutes a particularly serious procedural violation which, in the scope of application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, in any case leads to the annulment of the decision. As applications for waiving taxes are also to be regarded as implementation of Union law within the meaning of Article 51 (1) of the Charter, the Charter was applicable in the present case. The Court thus found that such VAT proceedings fall within the scope of application of Union law in this case, and that the right to an oral hearing arises from Article 47 (2) of the Charter.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter

    According to the case-law of the Supreme Administrative Court, the failure of the Federal Finance Court to hold a requested oral hearing constitutes a particularly serious procedural violation, which in any case leads to the annulment of the decision within the scope of application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights [...]. 

    Given that VAT proceedings fall within the scope of application of Union law, there is a right to an oral hearing i- such tax proceedings under Article 47 (2) of the Charter. As the handling of applications for review is also to be counted as part of the levying of the turnover tax and, to that extent, as part of the implementation of Union law within the meaning of Article 51 (1) of the Charter, the applicability of the Charter must also be assumed in the case of a review [...]. 

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter (original language)

    Die Nichtdurchführung einer beantragten mündlichen Verhandlung durch das Bundesfinanzgericht stellt - worauf in der Revision zutreffend hingewiesen wird - nach der Rechtsprechung des Verwaltungsgerichtshofes einen besonders gravierenden Verfahrensmangel dar, der im Anwendungsbereich der Grundrechtecharta (GRC) jedenfalls zu einer Aufhebung der Entscheidung führt [...]. 

    Umsatzsteuerverfahren fallen in den Anwendungsbereich des Unionsrechts, sodass sich für solche Abgabenverfahren aus Art. 47 Abs. 2 GRC das Recht auf Durchführung einer mündlichen Verhandlung ergibt. Da auch die Behandlung von Nachsichtsanträgen zur Erhebung der Umsatzsteuer und insofern zur Durchführung von Unionsrecht im Sinne von Art. 51 Abs. 1 GRC zu zählen ist, ist auch im Revisionsfall […] von einer Anwendbarkeit der GRC auszugehen [...].