Man can keep €84,600 after tax office error
Published: 19 Jan, 2012 CET.
Updated: Thu 19 Jan 2012 08:57 CET
A man who kept quiet for eight years about a €84,600 overpayment from the German tax office has been told by a court he can keep the money.
The man from Saarland was due a tax rebate of €400, but received instead a bank-account-boosting payment of €85,000, daily newspaper Die Welt reported.
And because the tax authorities did not contact him to ask for the money back for eight years, a court ruled on Wednesday, it was too late and the man could keep the money.
The Federal Tax Court said the five-year limit on claims for restitution from the tax office applied in this case.
The civil servants who had failed to contact the man for such a long time after the overpayment could not do anything more to get the money back.
The man did not contact the tax office about the overpayment, but kept quiet – and can now spend the money.
The Local/hc
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The man from Saarland was due a tax rebate of €400, but received instead a bank-account-boosting payment of €85,000, daily newspaper Die Welt reported.
And because the tax authorities did not contact him to ask for the money back for eight years, a court ruled on Wednesday, it was too late and the man could keep the money.
The Federal Tax Court said the five-year limit on claims for restitution from the tax office applied in this case.
The civil servants who had failed to contact the man for such a long time after the overpayment could not do anything more to get the money back.
The man did not contact the tax office about the overpayment, but kept quiet – and can now spend the money.
The Local/hc
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