THE PROCESS OF REPAYMENT OR CANCELLATION REQUEST
HOW DOES THE REPAYMENT OR CANCELLATION REQUEST PROCESS WORK?
The process of repayment or cancellation in cases overcalculated or overcharged customs duties is covered by Articles 211 and 217 of the Customs Law. Although it is an administrative remedy, the repayment and cancellation process is essentially a dispute resolution procedure that requires disputes to be resolved without resorting to the judiciary. Any customs duty repayment or cancellation is not within the scope of administrative appeal. Only the cases of overestimation or collection of customs duties, stamp duties and TRT banderol fees on import are within the scope of repayment and cancellation. The application for the repayment and cancellation request must be made within three years from the date of notification of the relevant duties to the taxpayers. Due to this nature, the customs duty, which is an administrative decision, is subject to the objection procedure under Article 242 of the Customs Law.
What is Repayment and Cancellation?
What is meant by repayment and cancellation is discussed within the scope of Article 210 of the Customs Law. For this reason, the literal interpretation of the law will be taken into consideration in the doctrine and application principles. Repayment, as can be understood from the meaning of the word, is the return of the overpaid tax debt, which has been notified to the taxpayer and overpaid tax debt, to the taxpayer by the administration related to the objection made. During the repayment appeal process, it will not be possible for taxpayers to repay the over-calculated but partially paid tax debts.
In case of cancellation of tax debt, it is essential that the relevant debt is notified to the taxpayers but not paid. It is the cancellation of the obligation to pay the debt partially or completely due to the provisions written in the Customs Law and related laws.
Relationship with Other Administrative Applications Under the Turkish Customs Law
The Customs Law, which is also an administrative procedure law, includes customs duties as a special subject and includes administrative appeal procedures explaining the disputes that may arise regarding customs duties. In addition to the application for the repayment and cancel of customs duties, Article 6 of the Customs Law explains the procedural procedures for applications for decisions and Article 242 explains the procedural procedures for appeals. The reconciliation application, which was introduced to the legislation in 2011 and is an administrative tool, is not a remedy related to the refund or cancellation objection applications, and therefore will not be explained within the scope of our subject.
Scope of Repayment and Cancellation
It is understood from Articles 210, 221 and 214 of the Customs Law that the repayment and cancellation are within the scope of the taxes that taxpayers are obliged to pay in imports and exports. In addition to these taxes, Import Value Added Tax, Import Special Consumption Tax and TRT Band, which is not a special consumption tax, are also within the scope of taxes that are / may be subject to repayment and cancellation application.
Repayment and Cancellation Procedure
The applications for repayment and cancellation, which were previously required by the Ministry to be submitted in writing to the relevant administration in person with the annex-78 application form, have been opened to electronic application only with the introduced regulations. In addition to filling out the application form, the procedure for the repayment and cancellation procedure is regulated in Articles 502 and following articles of the Customs Regulation. For the taxpayers who will make an application, it is important to regularly follow the Customs Law, Customs Regulation and electronic application system in terms of the application period, the examination of the application and the result of the application.
Repayment and cancellation applications are subject to certain periods of limitation, as in all administrative appeals. However, within the scope of the repayment and cancellation application; the duration of each tax debt is regulated separately within the framework of the type of tax. If the application is not made, it will not be possible to repay the tax subject to repayment or cancellation. Exceeding the right to apply in terms of time is regulated in Articles 211, 213 and 214 of the Customs Law as an exception. The exempted articles deal with force majeure and unexpected situations related to why the application cannot be made. In order to benefit from these exemptions, taxpayers must prove the force majeure or unexpected circumstances to the customs administration.
Review of the Application
In the case of an application for repayment or cancellation, the customs administration must conduct a comprehensive and qualified investigation. It will be sufficient to investigate all applications for repayment or cancellation made within the time limit, and in this case, the administrative process will proceed as a whole for both the administration and the applicant.
It would be a procedural error for the administration to issue different decisions on an application regardless of its legal basis. In the event that taxpayers make separate applications for the same tax debt for different legal reasons, a single decision should be issued. It is possible that a new case law may emerge, the law may change in a way to affect the old one in a favorable way, and these may not have been foreseen, evaluated or asserted by the administration in more than one application for repayment or cancellation of the same tax debt.
Partial or full rejection of the application made by the relevant customs administration will not prevent a new decision on the same subject during the application period. If there is a court decision on the subject, the Customs Administration will not be able to make a new decision and will have to implement the court decision. It should be taken into consideration that although no relevant conditions change during the application process, the fact that taxpayers make more than one application will be perceived as an abuse of right due to excessive stationery and unnecessary occupation of the administration, which may lead to a decision against the applicants in the application.
If the result of the application, which must be notified in writing by the relevant administration, is unfavorable to the applicant, the remedy of appeal under Article 6, Paragraph 3 of the Customs Law is open, subject to the condition that the appeal must be justified.
Since the decision against the applicant as a result of the examination of the application by the relevant customs administration was made within the scope of the Customs Law, administrative appeal procedures must be exhausted in order to apply for judicial remedy.
How to Apply?
With the new regulation, the repayment or cancellation can now only be done electronically. In the electronic booklet prepared by the Ministry to explain the new system to citizens, it is stated as follows: “The Repayment or Cancellation Request Management System is a system that allows the electronic submission of the “Repayment or Cancellation Application Form” and the documents that must be submitted in accordance with Article 502 of the Customs Regulation within the scope of the repayment and cancellation applications to be made in accordance with the provisions of Articles 211 to 214 of the Turkish Customs Law No. 4458, which must be submitted in accordance with Article 502 of the Customs Regulation and which are included in Annex 78 of the said Regulation. 01.04. 2020 dated 01.04. 2020 and published in the Resmi Gazete (Official Gazette or newspaper of Turkish Republic) dated 31086 numbered 30th article of the Regulation on the Amendment of the Customs Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 01.04. 2020 and numbered 31086, the Repayment or Cancellation Application Form and the documents attached to the Form must be submitted electronically to the relevant Customs Directorate by following the steps specified below.”, “…The application is accessed from the eTransactions section on the web page of our Ministry with the BILGE System user code and password.”
CONCLUSION
Repayment and cancellation are an administrative remedy that serves to resolve disputes at the administrative stage within the framework of customs duties and fines. The evaluation of the application process based on the value added tax, TRT Bandrol fee and anti-dumping tax levied on imports, which are stated to be within the scope of repayment and cancellation, is made according to the characteristics of each economic obligation taken during imports.