Refund of excessively collected tax: a template application to the tax authority

At the end of the month you open your bank statement and see an entry: "collection order of the tax authority". And the amount is larger than you expected. You have already filed an amended return or paid the debt yourself, yet the money was still debited. This article is about exactly that situation: how to get the money back, which deadlines to watch and what to write in the application.

Overpaid and excessively collected tax: what is the difference?

The Code deals with both in one chapter (Article 103), but the procedures differ:

	Overpaid	Excessively collected
Who made the mistake	the taxpayer transferred too much	the tax authority debited too much by force
Which article	Article 104	Article 105
Filing deadline	3 years from the day the amount was paid	3 years from the day the excessive collection became known or the court decision took effect
Interest	only if the refund deadline is breached, for each calendar day of delay	if you apply within 30 days — from the day after collection until the day of actual refund

In both cases the interest rate equals the Central Bank refinancing rate in force on the relevant days, and the interest is paid from budget funds (Article 104, Part Eight; Article 105, Part Three).

When does this happen?

The Code sets clear stages for forced collection. Knowing them makes it easy to find the stage where the error occurred:

Stage	What the Code says	Article
Demand notice	sent no later than 3 days after the payment deadline	Article 115, Part Two
Content of the notice	the debt, late payment interest accrued to date, fines and the measures that will be taken	Article 116
Collection order	if the payer has not paid itself, placed on the account no later than 3 working days after the deadline	Article 121, Part Six
Execution by the bank	no later than 1 operating day after receipt, from a foreign currency account no later than 2 operating days	Article 121
Recovery against property	if the debt is not paid within 60 calendar days of receiving the notice and other measures are insufficient	Article 119

Excessive collection most often arises like this:

the tax was reduced by an amended return, but the collection order for the earlier amount had already been executed (under Article 121, when tax and late payment interest are reduced by an amended return, the tax authority must recall the unexecuted collection order);
you paid the debt yourself with a payment order, but the collection order was executed anyway;
a deferral or instalment plan was granted for the debt, but the collection order was not recalled;
the decision based on the results of a field tax audit or tax audit was cancelled by a higher tax authority or a court (in this case the amounts collected must be refunded with interest — Article 230, Part Four).

What rights does the law give you?

Under Article 21 of the Tax Code, a taxpayer has, among others, the following rights: to obtain information held by the tax authorities on its own tax obligations; to timely offset or refund of overpaid or excessively collected amounts of taxes, late payment interest and fines; not to comply with demands that do not conform to the Code; to appeal against decisions of the tax authority and actions (inaction) of officials.

Under Article 27, the tax authority must, at the taxpayer's request, draw up a reconciliation statement on the fulfilment of the tax obligation. Part Five of Article 103 adds that where an overpayment is likely, a joint reconciliation of settlements may be carried out on the proposal of the tax authority or the taxpayer.

Deadlines: what happens after you apply?

What	Deadline	Article
Filing the application	within 3 years from the day the excessive collection became known (or the court decision took effect)	Article 105, Part One
Right to interest	if you apply within 30 days of that day	Article 105, Part Three
Refund	within 15 days of the day the application is accepted (within 3 days for entities with a high sustainability rating, except VAT)	Article 105, Part Two
Offset against future payments	for other taxes — within 3 days on a written or electronic application	Article 105, Part Five
Notice of refusal	within 3 days of the day the refusal decision is made	Article 104, Part Eight

The shortened deadline for a high sustainability rating does not apply to state enterprises or to legal entities in which the state holds 50 percent or more of the charter fund (Article 105, Part Two). The refund procedure is the same as the one set by Article 104 for overpaid tax (Article 105, Part Six).

Debts are settled first: a numerical example

Under Part Two of Article 103, if there is a tax debt, the excess first goes to repay it, in a strict order: 1) late payment interest on the same type of tax; 2) other taxes and the interest on them; 3) fines for tax offences. The remainder is refunded.

Example (prepared by the author). 18,000,000 soums of turnover tax was excessively collected from the account of «Namuna Savdo» LLC. The personal account shows late payment interest on this tax of 1,200,000 soums, a property tax debt of 3,500,000 soums and a fine of 800,000 soums.

Step	Amount, soums	Balance, soums
Excessively collected	18,000,000	18,000,000
1) To interest on this tax	1,200,000	16,800,000
2) To the other tax debt	3,500,000	13,300,000
3) To the fine	800,000	12,500,000
Amount to be refunded		12,500,000

That is why it is better to write in the application not "refund 18 million soums" but "refund the balance after offsetting debts": otherwise the tax authority will start another round of correspondence about the amount.

Step by step: what to do

Note the date, number and amount of the collection order from the bank statement.
In the personal account (my.soliq.uz), check the status of settlements for the tax type: assessed, paid and collected amounts and the balance.
Calculate the difference yourself: the amount collected minus the actual debt. Deduct other debts too, in the order shown above.
If necessary, request a reconciliation statement (Article 27) — it will be the main document confirming the amount.
Send the application within 30 days of the day the excessive collection became known, so that the right to interest is preserved (Article 105, Part Three).
Note the date the application was accepted and watch the 15-day deadline.
If refused or if there is no reply, file a complaint with a higher tax authority or the court (Articles 230 and 231).

Template application

Fill in the text with your details. Blanks are marked ______. A Word (DOCX) file with this template is in the Documents section.

A tip: do not add other articles to the application "to make it more convincing". A wrong reference does not strengthen the application; on the contrary, it gives the tax authority a reason to return it.

Beware: wrong references in an old template

A template circulated on social media cites Articles 11, 17, 60, 61 and 63 of the Tax Code as the legal basis. We opened each of them in the text of the Code — none of them concerns tax refunds:

Article	What it is actually about
Article 11	the principle of the unity of the tax system
Article 17	the list of types of taxes and levies
Article 60	other concepts used in the Code
Article 61	consolidated group of taxpayers
Article 63	agreement on the creation of a consolidated group

The relevant articles are: Article 21 (taxpayer rights), Article 27 (tax authority duties), Article 103 (general rules and the order of debt repayment), Article 104 (overpaid tax), Article 105 (excessively collected tax), Articles 115–121 (demand notice and forced collection), Articles 230 and 231 (complaint).

Conclusion

Excessively collected money is the company's money. The Code sets both the deadline for its refund and the interest. For overpaid tax, interest accrues only if the refund deadline is breached (Article 104). For excessively collected tax, if you apply within 30 days of the day you learned of the excess collection (or of the day the court decision took effect), interest accrues from the day following the collection (Article 105). The key is not to be late: 30 days for interest, 3 years as the final deadline for applying. Calculate the amount precisely, taking the order of debts into account, and cite in the application only the articles that actually relate to the matter.