Recurrent Property Tax Control in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate the possibilities for tax offices in the Czech Republic to control recurrent property tax returns and the data contained therein. The hypothesis that the recurrent property tax control in the Czech Republic is unproblematic and that there is no need for any amendments in related tax law regulation has been mostly confirmed. However, there are still several minor issues (e.g. the renewal of cadastral records) where amendments to the existing legal regulation would be helpful There are also other much more problematic issues in the property tax regulation to be improved. The role of the immovable property tax in the Czech Republic is mostly marginal; the revenue is very low. The paper follows the IMRaD structure; in the research part, we firstly summarise recurrent property tax regulation de lege lata from the theoretical perspective. Secondly, we describe existing practical problems of recurrent property tax control as these problematic issues have been identified from structured interviews with tax office clerks. In the discussion, we critically analyse substantive and procedural tax law concerning the recurrent property tax with regard to controls carried out by the tax office, combining the theoretical background with practical experience. Synthesising the knowledge gained, we identify the strengths and weaknesses of de lege lata regulation and suggest amendments de lege ferenda.