I was used to each end of calendar year bringing also the end of certain tax periods. When I was working with my clients on their risk registers and update them at the end of year there was certainty. One period lapsed. Nonetheless, I understood that due to the COVID-19 pandemic period, the statute of limitation was suspended and thus extended in certain countries.
For example, in Romania the statute of limitation was suspended starting with March 16, 2020, until December 25, 2020. Under these conditions, the statute of limitation of the taxpayer’s right to request a VAT refund or the right of the Romanian tax authorities to check tax liabilities regulated by the Tax procedure code for December 2014 – November 2015 has been suspended on March 16, 2020, will resume its course starting with December 26, 2020 and thus will expire on September 2021, unless a new suspension of the statute of limitation period would be decided by the Romanian competent authorities.
Regarding the customs duties, the right of the competent authorities to initiate an audit was strictly suspended in Romania during the state of emergency – for a period of 2 months. Therefore, a supplementary period of 2 months will be added to the statute of limitation of 3 year, provided by the Regulation (EU) no. 952/2013 (e.g. in January 2021, the customs authorities are entitled to check customs debts incurred during the period November 2017 – January 2021).
Therefore, if you do your updates for your risk register please take it into account.
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Michaela Merz 