It is set in the legislation that in most cases, when tax returns are filed with the tax payer, this can only be done in electronic form. Until December 31, 2015, incorrect filing is invalid, from January 1, 2016 incorrect filing is ineffective. The difference is that the tax administrator has to deal with an invalid tax return and ask the taxpayer to amend it, while he does not have to deal with an inefficient tax return and its effects are the same as if the tax administrator had never received it.

Electronic filing can be made in one of the following ways:

• Using the application of Electronic Filing for the Financial Administration (EPO)
• Using the data box
• Using software of third parties

The changes expected from the year 2016 regarding electronic filing:

• It will only be possible to file VAT tax return and control reports electronically,
• The form of electronic sending of tax returns will not change, which means that the option of filing tax return through the data box will be preserved (despite the fact that the finance ministry had originally demanded that this option be cancelled);
• The prescribed formats of filing (for example the number of characters in the boxes in the tax return, etc.) will need to be emphasised more from the year 2016 when sending them to the tax administrator, due to stricter conditions for their filing (see the following point);
• A change from the year 2016 will be that if using incorrect structure or filing, the filing will automatically be considered ineffective (previously it was the case that a tax proceeding was launched in the sense of issuing a call for removal of faults in the filing). This means that a tax return, which will be sent in an incorrect format, for example in .pdf (not in .xml) will automatically be considered in the same way as if it had not been presented to the tax administrator at all; the most convincing control at present is the downloading of the file into the Tax Portal (EPO), which we use prior to sending in a tax return form (it warns us about the occurrence of possible mistakes in electronic filing);
• If the tax return is sent without state reports, the tax administrator usually launches a reprehend proceeding (in a better case, the tax administrator only contacts us telephonically); a solution is the downloading and control of this tax return using the EPO applicant, when the use is warned about this with the comment that this is a so-called “permeable” mistake, which does not prevent the file from being sent, but results in the above-mentioned proceeding;
• A novelty, which already appeared in the income tax return of legal entities for the year 2014, was the preparation of accounting statements as a supplement of the tax return form. A possible method, which we prefer, too, is the processing and direct import of Excel files through the accounting programme directly into the file, an extreme version is a manual input of numeric data, which is time-consuming and increases the possibility of mistakes in its processing.

It ensues from the above that if the taxpayer uses the software of third parties, which does not enable an overview of error messages from these forms, for preparing tax return forms, he can use the application of the Tax Portal of the Financial Administration (EPO) for control. Nevertheless, with regard to reduction of the risk of mistakes in accepted filing, we recommend using this possibility for control in other cases as well. It is primarily necessary, though, to keep in mind the fact that tax return must be sent in electronically in the .xml format, which needs to be observed and thus prevent further actions of the tax administrator.

Despite protests from professionals, this change has thus gotten into the law, transferring the duty of processing various filing formats from the tax administrator to the taxpayer. For the tax administration, it was easier and cheaper to add on work and duties for the taxpayers than to invest in a system for digitalisation of the filings received. From the perspective of the entire society, this change brings about additional expenditure for all taxpayer. From experience as tax advisors, we know, how difficult it is to convince the client that tax return will cost him more money, because the state administration has transferred the duty of “turning” the filing into the required .xml format to him.