Amendments of Assessments and Tax Decisions - Part 5: Reconsideration & Correction

If a taxpayer disagrees with an assessment or tax decision, they can contest it. Once the period for legal recourse has expired, only extraordinary legal remedies such as a revision can be applied for. In this article, we explain the difference between reconsideration and what a correction is.

Reconsideration

With reconsideration, the authority revisits a legally binding, originally error-free order and issues a new order adapted to the changed factual or legal situation. Unlike revision, reconsideration is usually not an extraordinary legal remedy, but merely a legal recourse. The authorities only need to take note of the application for reconsideration and are not obligated to respond to it and take action. Therefore, there is no right to legal protection. According to federal court jurisprudence, however, reconsideration must be granted "if circumstances have significantly changed since the first decision or if the applicant presents significant facts and evidence that were unknown to him in the earlier proceedings or could not legally or factually have been asserted by him at that time, or there was no cause to do so." In these two cases, reconsideration is an extraordinary legal remedy. When a reconsideration request is submitted, the authority first checks whether there is a sufficient reason to revisit the decision. If so, the order is reviewed, and a new administrative procedure is conducted. The application for reconsideration is not subject to a deadline and can be made informally.

Correction

Correction addresses clerical and notarial errors in legally binding orders and decisions. This includes typographical errors, incorrect designations and names, accounting or transmission errors, omissions, wrong text arrangements, or defective prints and copies. Only errors made by the authority or errors adopted by it can be corrected by way of correction. The correction can be made by the authorities themselves or upon the request of the taxpayer. A deadline of five years after the announcement of the order must be observed. The same legal remedies as against the order or decision can be taken against the correction or its rejection.

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