Published on 15 June 2026
SECOND SECTION
Applications nos. 35564/23 and 36981/23
Olgica MICOVA against North Macedonia
and Goran NIKOLOSKI against North Macedonia
lodged on 14 September 2023 and 6 October 2023 respectively
communicated on 26 May 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The applications concern administrative proceedings in which the applicants were held liable, as tax guarantors, for outstanding tax debts of companies of which they had been executive directors.
As regards the application no. 35564/23, by a decision of the Public Revenue Office of 2022, the first applicant was appointed as a tax guarantor for a company of which she had been the executive director from 2008 and was ordered to pay, on behalf of the company, outstanding tax liabilities amounting to approximately EUR 330,000, comprising unpaid value-added tax (VAT) for a period ending in 2018, the starting date of which does not appear to have been indicated, and corporate income and personal income tax for 2013.
As regards the application no. 36981/23, by a decision of the Public Revenue Office of 2020, the second applicant was appointed as a tax guarantor for a company of which he had been the executive director and was ordered to pay, on behalf of the company, outstanding value-added tax (VAT) liabilities, together with the related interests and penalties, amounting to approximately EUR 20,000.
Before the domestic courts, the applicants argued, inter alia, that the underlying tax debts had arisen prior to the introduction of the institution of tax guarantors by the amendments to the Tax Proceedings Act, published in Official Gazette no. 187/2013 and entering into force on 7 January 2014, which inserted a new Section 35-a providing for tax guarantor liability. The first applicant submitted that the tax debt had originated in 2006, when she had not yet been the company’s director, whereas the second applicant argued that the relevant debts had arisen from 2011 to 2012. Furthermore, both applicants submitted that the precise moment at which the tax liabilities had arisen had not been established, that those liabilities had become time-barred and complained that the above-mentioned amendments had been applied retroactively.
In both applications, the applicants’ arguments were dismissed by two levels of administrative courts, which upheld the decisions of the Public Revenue Office.
The applicants complain under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention that the relevant tax legislation had been applied retroactively, that the precise moment at which the tax liabilities had arisen had not been determined, and that the debts enforced against them had been time-barred.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been an interference with the applicants’ peaceful enjoyment of possessions, within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1?
If so, was that interference in accordance with the law, pursued a legitimate aim in the public interest, and struck a fair balance between the demands of the general interest and the requirements of the protection of the applicants’ property rights (see, mutatis mutandis, National & Provincial Building Society, Leeds Permanent Building Society and Yorkshire Building Society v. the United Kingdom, 23 October 1997, §§ 78 - 80, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997‑VII; Špaček, s.r.o., v. the Czech Republic, no. 26449/95, § 54, 9 November 1999; and Lekić v. Slovenia [GC], no. 36480/07, §§ 92, 94-95, 105, 107-112, 11 December 2018), having regard in particular to the alleged retroactive application of the relevant tax legislation, the alleged failure to determine the moment at which the underlying tax liabilities arose, and the applicants’ submissions that those liabilities had become time-barred?
APPENDIX
No.
Application no.
Case name
Applicant
Year of Birth
Place of Residence
Nationality
Represented by
1.
35564/23
Micova v. North Macedonia
Olgica MICOVA
(“first applicant”)
1963
Negotino,
Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia
2.
36981/23
Nikoloski v. North Macedonia
Goran NIKOLOSKI
(“second applicant”)
1986
Skopje, Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia
Roza GURMESHEVIKJ