Trade Tax Solutions You Need to Be Sure of: With the Consultants

If you are obliged to pay trade tax, the tax office can only collect the payment within the limitation period after the tax assessment has been issued. Find out about the deadlines applicable to tax debts and existing special regulations of the tax code.

Limitation of trade tax according to 228 AO

For all tax payments, for example trade tax or income tax, § 228 AO stipulates that the claims expire within five years (limitation of payments).

However, you must note that the statute of limitations does not begin to run when the due date is due, but only at the end of the year in which the tax claim was set by notification (Section 229 AO).

If you are obliged to pay trade tax by a tax assessment from 2012, the limitation period begins on December 31, 2012 and ends on December 31, 2017.

Interruption and suspension of the statute of limitations

If you should still be obliged to pay after the deadline has expired, you must check whether the statute of limitations has been interrupted or suspended so that the deadline has started again or has been extended due to a temporary suspension. The tax code finally lists the reasons for an interruption of the statute of limitations in the catalog of 231. Go for the online tax filing with taxfyle there.

Things to know about the statute of limitations on sales tax

Sales tax is bad, statute of limitations is good. But: The tax authorities are reluctant to do without:

• Accordingly, the statute of limitations for trade tax is interrupted if the tax office has issued a written warning against the claim or taken enforcement measures.
• Even if you have been granted a deferral or suspension of execution or you have provided security, the period starts again from the beginning.
• Finally, the statute of limitations is interrupted if insolvency proceedings have been opened against your assets or if the tax office had to investigate your place of residence or whereabouts in order to locate you.

Another special provision of the tax code regulates the suspension of the statute of limitations with the result that the period is extended by the period of suspension and the claim can still be enforced against you after the regular expiry of the period. According to § 230 AO, a suspension occurs if, due to force majeure in the last six months before the statute of limitations began, the pursuit of claims was impossible.

Conclusion

If you are still to be claimed on the basis of a tax assessment that is more than five years old, check whether the statute of limitations has been effectively interrupted or suspended. If anything is unclear, consult a tax advisor or lawyer as a precaution.