REVENUE AUTHORITIES SLOW IN CARRYING ON PROCESSING In 2010, the AOB received 264 complaints concerning the revenue authorities. In many instances this related to problems with employee assessments, tax assessments for individuals drawing foreign pensions, or mandatory assessments for individuals with two employers. In other instances, enquiries and complaints were frequently about which expenditures could be deemed extraordinary charges that reduce the tax burden. As is evident from the examples below, many complaints related to the duration of proceedings. In instances where an authority was slow in carrying out processing, the AOB repeatedly had to remind the authority of its obligation to reach decisions within six months. In these instances, it was unacceptable for the authority to argue that it had organisational or technical problems, or that the delay in processing was due to the complexity of the legal situation. If proceedings are delayed for clear reasons, it is the revenue authority’s duty to at least notify the individual involved. Delays in processing Ms. N. contacted the AOB because it took six years after her partner’s death for the inheritance tax to be determined. During the investigative proceedings, it emerged that although the Feldkirch revenue authority had been notified of the death in autumn 2004, an enquiry submitted to the relevant district court regarding the status of the probate proceedings had not been received. It was not until November 2009, i.e. six weeks before the five-year statute of limitations deadline, that the revenue authority requested an inheritance tax assessment from Ms. N. Although the revenue authority was in possession of the necessary information in December 2009, the decision was not issued until six months later. Six years to determine inheritance tax After waiting 18 months for her income tax to be determined, and having in vain followed up several times with the relevant revenue authority, Ms. N. contacted the AOB. During the investigative proceedings, the Ministry of Finance initially argued that the complexity of the matter meant it had taken a very long time to process. However, when the AOB inspected the files, it became clear that the problem was much more banal: the case worker at the Klagenfurt revenue Anger over tax return 27