Filing deadline

What it means

A filing deadline is the time by which a filing has to reach the tax administrator. Some deadlines come straight from statute, others are set by the tax office in a request, and it is the second kind that gets missed, because nothing puts them in the calendar in advance.

The deadline to file and the deadline to pay are two different things, even though for income tax and VAT they fall on the same day. A return filed but unpaid is a different problem from missing the deadline to file, and the sanction is calculated differently.

The difference between a statutory deadline and one set by the tax administrator has a practical consequence. A deadline set by the administrator, for example in a request, can be extended on an application filed before it runs out. A statutory deadline cannot be extended this way; only the law itself can move it, as with the postponement of the income tax return.

How it works in practice

An income tax return is filed within three calendar months of the end of the tax period; an extension arises from a notice that must itself be filed inside the original deadline. A VAT return is due within 25 days of the end of the tax period.

The deadline is met if the filing is sent on its last day: electronically through the Financial Administration portal, through the official e-mailbox for filings to other authorities, or handed over for postal delivery. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it moves to the next working day.

When we represent a client under a power of attorney, the tax administrator’s documents come to us as well, and we enter their deadlines in a shared calendar on the day of delivery. A document in the electronic mailbox is deemed delivered after a period set by law even if nobody opened it, so the deadline runs whether or not it was read.

What to watch out for

A company on the commercial register and every VAT payer must deal with the tax office electronically, so a paper return posted on the last day does not save the deadline: the office treats such a filing as defective, and the request to put it right arrives after the date has passed. The penalty for late filing has a statutory floor and is charged even to a company with no tax to pay, which would otherwise have paid nothing.

With VAT it is easy to forget that the VAT control statement is a separate filing with its own penalties. A filed return does not replace it, and failing to file it, or failing to file it even after a request, carries a fine even when the tax was calculated and paid correctly. The two filings are therefore tracked as two separate obligations.