Over €190 million in tax refunds remain trapped in AADE coffers due to incomplete information or documentation from 130,000 beneficiaries, resulting in delayed payments. These are amounts that have already been approved for refund but remain unclaimed due to pending issues that prevent the tax administration from proceeding with payments.
Read: Fast track tax refunds over €8 billion – Pending cases worth over €1 billion “unblocked”
In most cases, beneficiaries have not declared a valid bank account (IBAN), have not updated their contact information, or have not submitted the required documentation requested by tax services to complete the process. Thus, while income tax and VAT refunds have been recorded and are available, they remain “frozen” until recipients are found. According to the latest data from the State General Accounting Office, overdue pending tax refunds reached €737 million at the end of April. This amount includes approximately €191 million for which taxpayers have not responded, resulting in blocked payment procedures.
The problem of pending refunds ranks high on the tax administration’s agenda, which has set as a basic priority reducing delays and accelerating payments. Particular emphasis is placed on applications pending for more than 90 days, as the goal is to drastically reduce their number within the coming months. AADE’s revised operational plan provides for reducing the backlog of pending refunds over 90 days to 700,000 cases by year-end. This number includes cases excluded from immediate processing, such as refunds in judicial dispute, mutual administrative assistance cases with other countries, small refunds up to €5 that are centrally offset, and cases delayed due to taxpayers’ own fault.
At the same time, AADE is modernizing the refunds system, emphasizing process automation and reducing human intervention. The plan provides that at least 95% of VAT refund requests will be processed within 90 days, while requests will be evaluated through risk analysis systems to accelerate payment of legitimate refunds. Simultaneously, AADE’s so-called “Golden List” will continue to play a significant role in the new model. This includes businesses and professionals with consistent tax compliance behavior, who can enjoy faster tax refunds. List inclusion considers criteria such as tax audit history, absence of tax and customs violations, and non-involvement in suspicious intra-community transactions. Through these interventions, the tax administration aims to reduce the “stock” of pending cases, decrease bureaucracy, and channel hundreds of millions of euros currently “frozen” faster into the market, enhancing household and business liquidity.
