Supreme Court Judgment 1201/2025 and the end of the ‘third shot’ in tax matters

In its judgment 1201/2025 of 29 September, the Supreme Court conclusively establishes the doctrine of the ‘double shot’: the Tax Authorities cannot issue a third assessment after the previous two have been annulled.

As the judgment points out, the case law established by the Supreme Court over the last two decades allows that, when an assessment is annulled due to a substantive defect, the Tax Authorities may issue a new assessment to replace the previous one – the ‘second shot’ – provided that it does so within certain limits: without restarting the procedure or completing the investigation, and within the legal time limit and provided that there is no statute of limitations, in addition to observing the prohibition on worsening the taxpayer’s situation or repeating the same errors.

With this judgment, the Supreme Court supplements its doctrine and clarifies that the principles of good administration, good faith and legal certainty prevent the Tax Authorities from repeating tax assessments beyond a second opportunity. Under no circumstances and in no case whatsoever is it lawful for the Tax Authorities to issue a third administrative act, regardless of the defect in the second annulled act.