Objection Proceedings

The objection procedure as an extrajudicial legal remedy in tax law is regulated in the seventh part of the Fiscal Code (§§ 347 et seq. AO).

An objection is—subject to other jurisdictions—a valid legal remedy against administrative acts in tax matters. An objection may be filed if you as a taxpayer are aggrieved by the administrative act (or its omission), because: decisions by tax authorities do not have to be accepted without review.

In most cases, the objection in tax proceedings is directed against a tax assessment issued by the tax office.

Should you have received a tax assessment with which you do not agree, it is particularly important that you contact us as soon as possible, as the deadline for filing an objection is only one month from the date of notification of the assessment.

Filing the objection requires the tax office that issued the tax assessment to review it, without being permitted to charge any costs or fees for doing so.

The objection may be withdrawn at any time until the decision is announced.

The tax authority decides on the objection by issuing an objection decision. If the objection is granted in whole or in part, and is therefore successful, the decision is generally made by means of a correspondingly amended administrative act combined with the decision (remedial notice). If the objection is not granted, a separate notice rejecting the objection is issued.

The objection does not generally suspend the execution of the contested administrative act; in this respect, the objection has no suspensive effect. The collection of the assessed taxes is not halted by the objection, meaning that the payment demands associated with the tax assessment remain in effect regardless of the objection procedure.

However, the authority may suspend execution in whole or in part. This shall be done upon application if there are serious doubts about the legality of the contested administrative act—or if execution would result in undue hardship. If taxes have already been paid, execution may be revoked upon application under the aforementioned conditions. Taxes already paid will then be refunded pending a decision.

If the decision on the objection depends in whole or in part on other legal disputes, the authority may independently suspend the decision until their resolution, possibly also upon suggestion by the objector.