The Two-Stage System of Tax Disputes
A tax dispute may be examined in the system of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia and in court. Within the ministry system the dispute-examining organs are the Revenue Service and the Disputes Council at the Ministry of Finance, and the dispute is two-stage: it begins with the submission of a complaint to the Revenue Service. In the case of a preliminary decision the person applies directly to the Disputes Council. At the same time, at any stage of the dispute the claimant may apply to a court — a guarantee that subjects the administrative system to judicial control, while proceedings before the court are governed by administrative procedural legislation.
The Procedural Requirements of the Complaint
The dispute-examining organ does not accept a complaint into proceedings if it fails the procedural requirements: the claimant's identification or personal number and contact details must be indicated; the substance of the demand must be discernible from the complaint; a copy of the challenged decision or of the document connected with its issuance must be attached; the pages must be numbered; the complaint must be legible, in Georgian and signed; where submitted by a representative, a document confirming authority is attached. On a defect the claimant is notified in writing and given no less than 5 days to cure it, and on a reasoned request this term may be extended. In practice this formal filter decides the fate of the dispute: a timely cured complaint enters into examination, an overdue one is left unexamined.
A defect does not, however, automatically end the matter: the dispute-examining organ is empowered to accept the complaint into proceedings despite the defect where the defect does not substantially hinder the examination of the complaint — an instrument of protection against excessive formalism whose application rests with the organ's own assessment.