Omission of the Administration to Readjust
the Tax Value of Immovable Property - The Final Judgment
Supreme Administrative Court Judgment 4446/2015
Theodora Ziamou
D.Phil. (Oxon.), Associate Judge, Greek Supreme Administrative Court (Council of State)
The six-month deadline set to the Administration by the Supreme Administrative Court's preliminary ruling 4003/2014 within which it was ordered to issue the necessary act of readjustment of the tax values of immovable property, may not be extended. The provisions of Law 4336/2015 may not be considered as an act of compliance with the preliminary ruling 4003/2014 since it was published after the aforementioned six-month deadline. The requested extension of the said deadline is not to be granted on the basis of the presentation of a draft law that sets the transition time for the evaluation of immovable property as well as new zone prices and new commerciality factors, because this proves that the Administration had in fact in mind to readjust the tax values by October 2015 but failed to act within the set deadline. The omission of the Administration to issue the act required by Article 41 para. 1 of Law 1249/1982 in order to readjust the tax values of immovable property in Greece is to be annulled. The Court, after taking into account the circumstances of the case and after balancing the interests of the private parties against the overriding public interest of avoiding the sudden fluctuation of the State's tax revenue in light of Greece's present financial situation, rules that the annulment of the Administration's failure to issue the above-mentioned act is to take retroactive effect from 21 May 2015, that is from the date when the six-month deadline set to the Administration by the Court expired.
