The right to a reasonable period of time in contentious tax proceedings

Abstract

In this article, the researchers intend to analyze the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of the Republic in relation to the right to a reasonable term and the legal consequence when evidencing the affectation of said right against the property right of taxpayers; as well as, the reasonableness of late payment interest during the excess time that the administration (SUNAT and the Tax Court) took to resolve the appeals in administrative headquarters.

The regulatory vacuum in relation to the legal consequence of the violation of the reasonable term in the contentious tax procedure due to causes attributable to the administration has led taxpayers to request protection from the ordinary and constitutional court so that the rule of application of interest is not applied during the time in excess of SUNAT and the Tax Court to resolve the appeals raised by the taxpayer.

At first, the jurisprudential line of the supreme interpreter of the Constitution was inclined to protect the claim of the taxpayers and declare the non-application of late payment interest during the time in excess to resolve the appeals, even in the time horizon that the legislator would not have foreseen said legal consequences in the tax code; that is, the Constitutional Court destroyed the rules of tax law by applying the principle of reasonableness.

However, currently there is evidence of a departure from the jurisprudential doctrine produced by the TC in relation to the right to a reasonable term in the tax litigation procedure, establishing that the ideal way to elucidate said controversy is the administrative litigation claim.