The Supreme Tax Court decided that a simply signed legal statement prepared by an attorney does not meet the requirements for electronic legal communications under the Code of Procedure of Fiscal Courts unless it is transmitted to the court via a designated transmission channel specified therein. In the event the deadline for filing a lawsuit has been missed, reinstatement into the status quo ante may be granted regardless of the plaintiffs‘ fault if the court itself violated its duty of care.
If a notary fails to comply with his obligation to notify the tax office of legal transactions with relevance to real estate transfer tax within the two-week period as provided for by law he cannot apply for reinstatement into the status quo ante pursuant to Section 110 of the German Tax Code (AO) with respect to the missed notification deadline. This was decided by the Supreme Tax Court in three recently published judgments.
Where an appeal is submitted by email, failure to request confirmation that the message was received and read has no impact on the cause of fault. This was decided by the Supreme Tax Court regarding the consequences of missing the one-month filing deadline in the course of an application for reinstatement into the status quo ante pursuant to Section 110 Fiscal Code.
