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Latest news - August 2018

Last month’s tax and legal news in a few sentences.

  • An amendment to the Code of Administrative Justice has been submitted to the Chamber of Deputies. The proposed changes concern the cassation complaint - an extraordinary remedy against the final and conclusive decisions of regional courts in administrative justice. The admissibility of cassation complaints is to be limited solely to cases whose importance significantly exceeds the complainant’s own interest. The amendment aims to ease the burden for the Supreme Administrative Court, and speed up the proceedings. On the other hand, the change would significantly limit the participants’ chance to defend themselves against the administrative courts’ decisions: the law provides no other remedy in administrative justice, except for a retrial.
     
  • UBER concluded a tax memorandum with the Ministry of Finance, aiming to ensure the proper administration of taxes of all drivers and co-operators of this growing transportation platform. Part of the memorandum is an agreement that starting from October 2018, UBER will launch the pilot operation of electronic reporting of sales for its new drivers; information on cash payments received by drivers or companies driving for UBER will thus be provided on a voluntary basis, even before the effect of the amended EET Act.
     
  • According to the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EU, the financial administration proceeded in accordance with current case law. On 25 July 2018, in Luxembourg, the CJEU Advocate General Juliane Kokott issued an opinion in the crucial AREX CZ case. The case may bring some clarity to disputes concerning the medialised orders to secure tax, and is of a key importance in the fight against VAT carousel fraud.
     
  • Among other things, the July ECOFIN session dealt with the InvestEU programme, lower VAT on e-books, and American tax reform efforts. Upon the Czech Republic’s request, the new Austrian presidency also put a proposal for extending the reverse charge mechanism on the agenda.
     
  • For sake of legal certainty, time savings, and to avoid more complex administrative procedures in the future, the Ministry of Internal Affairs urges all British citizens residing in the Czech Republic who want their rights preserved after Brexit to apply for a certificate of temporary residence. Citizens of the United Kingdom without a residency permit at the end of the transitory period will have to prove that they are covered by the rules stipulated in the exit agreement in another, more complex manner. The certificate of temporary residence is issued free of charge. The application is to be filed in the territory of the Czech Republic, at any office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Czech Republic (see the list of offices at: http://www.mvcr.cz/mvcren/article/contacts.aspx).