Refunding the judicial stamp tax: cases, deadline, procedure.

Refund of the judicial stamp tax is governed by article 45 of Emergency Ordinance 80/2013. Four main cases give rise to a refund: overpayment, payment for a claim later withdrawn, payment for a claim rejected as inadmissible, and payment under a fee later annulled or modified.

Overpayment most often arises when the declared value of the claim is higher than the actual one, or when the action is reclassified into a lower bracket. In that case, the refund covers only the difference. For a civil claim declared initially at 10,000 Lei and reclassified at 5,000 Lei, the fee difference (605 minus 355 = 250 Lei) is refunded.

Withdrawal of the claim gives the right to full refund, provided the withdrawal occurs before the first hearing or under conditions of special law. If withdrawal occurs after the first hearing, article 45(3) provides that 50% of the paid fee is refunded.

The limitation period for the refund request is three years from the date of payment. The request is filed with the court where the fee was paid, accompanied by the proof of payment and the decision on which the request is based. The court rules by interlocutory order, subject to appeal within 5 days.

For payments made through Sigilia, the payment proof is available in the history section of your account and can be downloaded as a PDF signed electronically with OneSpan. For law firms, the proof can be exported in a format compatible with internal accounting systems.