Joaquim Pedro Lampreia is quoted in the article "Taxpayers triumph in tax arbitrations. Why?", published in the newspaper Eco.
The article analyses tax arbitration cases, in which taxpayers had a success rate of 63.3 per cent but, in addition, the Tax Authority (AT) "won the highest value cases, over one million euros".
It is in this sense that Joaquim Pedro Lampreia explains that "'it is perfectly normal' for taxpayers to win more cases, since the arbitration route depends on a choice made by taxpayers and they tend to choose this route 'whenever they are already assured of victory'".
In addition, the lawyer states that "through arbitration, a taxpayer can have a final decision in six months, while if they go to the tax courts they may have to wait between five and ten years, which is intolerable".
According to Joaquim Pedro Lampreia, "in an ideal world, in which the tax courts functioned normally, arbitration would be chosen because some legal issues are more favourable to arbitration and not because the tax courts are paralysed".
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