On 16 December 2021, the Financial Bulletin 38/2021 published Amendment No. 8 to the GFŘ-D-29 guidance no.: 111096/16/7100-20116-050484, issued by the General Financial Directorate to waive fines for failure to submit a control report (the “Guidance”). The guidance is based on the provisions of article 101k of Act No. 235/2004 Coll., on Value Added Tax, as amended (“VAT Act”), according to which the taxpayer is entitled to request that the tax administrator waive the fine under article 101h(1)(b) to (d) of the VAT Act (fines of CZK 10,000, CZK 30,000 and CZK 50,000) no later than 3 months after the payment assessment, which decided on the obligation to pay the fine, took effect. The Guidance stipulates 17 situations, which are considered by the tax administration authorities, when deciding whether to waive the fine, as a reason for not submitting a control report that can be justified taking into account the circumstances of the case, and when the fine may therefore be waived in entirety or in part by the tax administrator.

Amendment no. 8 to the Guidance makes the following partial changes in the list of justifiable reasons:

• In the case of justifiable reasons consisting in an adverse health condition (points 1, 4 and 7 of the “Justifiable reasons” table), the time limitation for its occurrence has been deleted: if such health condition arose acutely and not earlier than 10 (15) working days before the last day of the deadline for submission of the control report (subsequent control report under article 101g(2) and (3) of the VAT Act and at the same time lasted on the date of notification about the summons). In the case of fines of CZK 30,000 and CZK 50,000 (points 4 and 7 of the “Justifiable Reason” table), there has been a change in the need to submit the respective (subsequent) control report not already on the 5th workday after the expiry of the (alternative) deadline for its submission, but as soon as the health of the tax subject or his representative allows it.
• The justifiable reason related to the functionality of the tax portal (point 10 of the table “Justifiable reasons”) newly reads as follows: On the last day of the deadline or the alternative deadline for fulfilling the obligation related to the control report, the tax portal of the Financial Administration of the Czech Republic (“Moje daně”: www.mojedane.cz) related to the submission of the control report or the system of data boxes was not fully or partially functional and the Financial Administration of the Czech Republic or the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic announced the non-functionality on their websites. The submission in question was effectively made immediately after the tax portal or data boxes were put into operation, but no later than the next workday. This justifiable reason applies to the fine for failure to file an audit report (i.e. article 101h paragraph 1 letter b) to (d) of the ITA).
• In the case of a general waiver of one misconduct related to the performance of control report obligations and giving rise to a penalty assessed within a single calendar year, it has been updated that this reason will also apply for the calendar year 2022 (point 12 of the “Justifiable Reasons” table).
• A similar update of the assessment of one error also occurred within the calendar year 2022 in the situations described in the Guideline, where (i) the tax subject responded to the invitation issued under article 101g paragraph 1 of the ITA to submit a (subsequent) control report after the expiry of the substitute deadline set out in article 101g paragraph 1, on the grounds that the obligation to submit a (subsequent) control report did not arise for it by law (item no. 15 of the “Justifiable Reasons” table, in relation to the fine of CZK 50,000), and where (ii) the tax subject has submitted a subsequent control report in response to a request to amend, supplement or confirm the data (article 101g paragraph 2 of the ITA) after the expiry of the deadline (article 101g paragraph 3 of the ITA), confirming the accuracy of the last submitted control report, while the obligation to amend or supplement the data did not actually arise (point 16 of the “Justifiable reasons” table, which refers to the fine of CZK 30,000).

At the same time, the General Financial Directorate has issued the entire updated Guidance in the version of all 8 amendments, which is published in the same issue of the Financial Bulletin. 
If you are currently trying to decide whether a fine imposed by the tax office can be waived and you do not know what to do, please contact us and we will be happy to help.