Izbrani praktični izzivi upravnega in sodnega varstva pravic zavezancev pri odmeri davkov

slovenian

2025

volume 51, issue 1

appeal   comparing Slovenia and Austria   judicial review   legal protection   second-instance administrative decision-making analysis   tax procedure

Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

Despite the primary public interest in tax collection to ensure financing common social needs, taxpayers must have guaranteed constitutional rights, in particular the right to appeal and to judicial protection. Therefore, the procedural regulation of the tax procedure under the Tax Procedure Act and the General Administrative Procedure Act (GAPA) is crucial. However, hereby several issues arise, e.g. when, according to Article 251 of the GAPA, the appellate body, i.e. the Ministry of Finance (MoF), should decide on a justified appeal by itself and when it should refer the case back to the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (FARS) for a new proceeding. Moreover, it is an open question whether the administrative appeal, which is a procedural prerequisite for an administrative dispute in Slovenia, is as effective in resolving disputes as in Austria, where the reform has in 2014 transferred instance legal protection directly to the court level under the jurisdiction of the Federal Finance Court. Using different methods, normative, comparative, analysis of administrative statistics, case studies and interviews, it has been concluded that the Slovenian regulation of the protection of the rights of taxpayers is relatively adequate. On the other hand, in the light of the empirical data and their systemic evaluation, in order to conduct tax proceedings more efficiently, it would be advisable to strengthen the human resources at the MoF and to improve the work of the FARS, so as to reduce the number of justified appeals in the first place.

08.12.2025