‘We regret for the tourists, but the hotel owner is to blame’

The Tax Administration of the Ministry of Finance expresses regret that tourists, as well as the general Croatian public, had to witness the consequences of the actions of an irresponsible and negligent entrepreneur regarding the case of the Libra hotel in Senj.

The Libra hotel in Senj, operating under the company Mališa d.o.o, was sealed yesterday due to a tax debt of 883 thousand kuna by the decision of the local office of the Tax Administration in Gospić, only to be unsealed after 5 PM, with the owner given an eight-day deadline to pay the debt in full.

Today, the Tax Administration published on its website, ‘due to great public interest and a series of untruths’ about its work, the ‘true factual state of the supervisory procedures’ regarding the taxpayer Mališa d.o.o.

They note that the taxpayer had several options for settling and restructuring their tax debt, so statements that the Ministry of Finance, Tax Administration is ‘rigid’ in collecting tax debts do not correspond to the factual state.

They also explain that the reopening of the hotel occurred because an agreement was reached with the taxpayer, i.e., they were given an eight-day deadline to settle the entire debt.

They add that the agreement was reached for the sake of all innocent hotel guests who had to suffer due to the actions of the hotel owner.

The Tax Administration provides a chronology of events regarding the tax debt, noting that the taxpayer was informed by a letter dated June 17 of this year about the provisions of the Law on Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement, which called for them to explain why they did not act according to that law, but the response was never submitted.

The record of the inspection conducted on June 19 noted irregularities in the operations of that taxpayer, establishing that they do not fulfill their obligations on time and that they have a debt of 883,080 kuna. They also did not submit a corporate income tax return or VAT return for 2012, nor forms for 2013, despite calls and warnings from the competent office of the Tax Administration, so their debt is actually even higher.

The taxpayer was given a deadline to settle their tax debt, otherwise, actions would be taken based on Article 130 of the Misdemeanor Act, and a ban on undertaking certain business activities would be imposed as a precautionary measure.

The record of the tax inspection was received by the company Mališa on July 2, and they had the right to file an objection within five days, while the objection to the record was received by the Gospić Local Office on August 7.

Therefore, the taxpayer was informed, as of July 2, of the fact that if they do not settle their tax obligations, a temporary ban on conducting activities would be imposed. Despite this, they continued to operate without interruption, and contacted the Tax Administration only on August 1.

Unfortunately, the disregard for the law manifested itself in the dissatisfaction of hotel guests. It is evident that the taxpayer exploited both their guests and the public, leading them to incorrect conclusions, the Tax Administration emphasizes.

They also note that the Commercial Court in Rijeka initiated a preliminary procedure for determining the conditions for opening bankruptcy proceedings against the taxpayer by a decision dated December 6, 2012, which has not been concluded to this day and does not affect the proceedings conducted by the Tax Administration.