All companies and other undertakings who have registered and established claims in one of the insolvency proceedings – pre-insolvency proceedings, insolvency proceedings or extraordinary administration proceedings against companies from the Agrokor Group – have the legal right to request a refund of VAT contained in the difference between established (recognized) and settled claims in insolvency proceedings.
The project applies to all creditors' claims against an insolvency debtor that arose until the end of 2023.
In order to collect their claims, creditors of insolvency debtors are obliged to file their claims in insolvency proceedings. As a rule, the percentages of settlement of such claims are low.
As a rule, creditors who are subject to VAT charge VAT on their deliveries of goods and services at the applicable tax rate.
Although the percentages of debt settlement in one insolvency proceeding are low, the amount of VAT contained in claims can be settled in full. This can be done partly on the basis of settlement in insolvency proceedings and partly by requesting a refund of the remaining part of the VAT from the state.
Thus, if a creditor of the insolvency debtor has an uncollected invoice that he has reported and it has been recognized in the insolvency proceedings in the amount of HRK 125,000 (in HRK because the Project covers claims until the end of 2023), the amount of the invoice includes VAT in the amount of HRK 25,000 (if it is a delivery on which the general VAT rate of 25% is applied). If the creditor settles 10%, i.e. HRK 12,500, after the completion of the insolvency proceedings, this amount of settlement also includes HRK 2,500 of VAT. The rest of the amount of unpaid VAT in the amount of HRK 22,500 can be claimed by the creditor from the state within the permitted time limits.
In the last 30 years, thousands of pre-insolvency or insolvency proceedings have been opened and/or closed. For each of these procedures, there is a different timeframe within which a VAT refund could or can be claimed. The specific feature of the Extraordinary Administration Procedure over companies from the Agrokor Group is that it is a one-off procedure that was finalized in 2018. Due to statutory limitations the right to claim VAT refund from the state for claims reported and determined in the Extraordinary Administration procedure expires at the end of 2024. There is a very short deadline for preparing the application for VAT refund in this procedure.
Panonia Solutions d.o.o. is a project company with the sole task of organizing and coordinating VAT refunds for its clients.
The company has an equity capital of EUR 1,000,000 and has no liabilities. The Director of the Company is a certified tax advisor Hrvoje Zgombić. The Company uses the services of the tax consulting company Zgombić d.o.o. and other tax advisors and uses the services of several law firms.
The company bears all the costs of the VAT refund procedure for its clients. The costs refer to the costs of tax advisors, lawyers, possibly other experts. They also include the costs of conducting and monitoring all stages of the VAT refund procedure until its completion, which include: administrative proceedings before tax authorities, administrative disputes before Administrative and High administrative Courts, proceedings before the Constitutional Court, proceedings before the EU Court of Law and proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights.
Hrvoje Zgombić is a certified tax advisor, certified auditor and court expert for finance and accounting. He is the director of Panonia Solutions d.o.o. and the founder and director of the tax consulting company Zgombić d.o.o.
Throughout his professional career spanning over three decades, Hrvoje Zgombić has held managerial, managerial and co-ownership positions in numerous companies, including Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
He gained extensive experience in various categories of tax consulting working for numerous companies from different industries and sectors. Some of them are: Coca-Cola, Hrvatski Telekom, A1, Podravka, Nexe Group, Dalmacijacement, Istracement, RWE, Zagrebačka pivovara, Pliva, Adris grupa, TDR, Erste banka, RBA, PBZ, Unicredit, OTP banka, Societe General, Badel, BINA Istra, Crodux, Petrol, Span, IN2, Lidl, Spar, Kaufland, Unilever.
A business relationship with clients is created by one of two possible contracting models: a) the basic contract or b) the basic contract that has an agreement on the cession of receivables attached. The contract on the cession of receivables is concluded after the issuance of the VAT refund application, and it significantly simplifies the administration of the VAT refund procedure, but clients have the freedom of choice. Both contracts are sent to clients by e-mail upon request.
Panonia Solutions d.o.o. is a company with its own equity capital of one million EUR whose sole activity is the organization of VAT refund for taxpayer clients through representation by a lawyer of PS d.o.o.'s choice or in the case of assignment of the right to a tax refund to PS d.o.o. in its own name and on its own account.
The project relates to the refund of VAT on all claims containing VAT reported by taxpayers in proceedings against an insolvency debtor – a company that is or was subjected the following:
and which remained partially or fully unpaid on the date of the opening of the insolvency proceedings.
All partially or fully uncollected receivables based on invoices containing VAT issued before the expiry of 2023, regardless of whether the conditions for VAT refund are met or the limitation period has expired.
Contracts are sent to the client by e-mail upon request. There are two models of contracting:
Clients send the signed scanned contract to the e-mail address: hrvoje.zgombic@pdv.hr and then the co-signed contract is returned to their e-mail address.
In addition to the scanned and e-mailed signed contract, it is necessary to send as an attachment in PDF format all invoices on the basis of which the VAT refund is requested, including the list and all invoices that were registered in the pre-insolvency or insolvency proceedings or in the Extraordinary Administration Procedure over the companies from the Agrokor Group, as well as other documentation related to the VAT refund requested by Panonia Solutions d.o.o.
All costs in the 100% amount, including the costs of tax advisors or other experts, the costs of a lawyer are fully borne by PSS d.o.o. until all legal remedies related to VAT refund are exhausted, which includes proceedings before tax authorities, proceedings before administrative courts, proceedings before the Constitutional Court, proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Court of Human Rights, and possible proceedings before the EU Commission.
As regards representing the taxpayer, there are two options:
Due to the expected large number of clients, except in rare cases, it will not be possible to supplement or amend the contracts offered on the website of Panonia Solutions d.o.o. Panonia Solutions d.o.o. has tried in good faith to prepare the contracts in question with the utmost care so that the interests and legal position of both contracting parties (the client and d.o.o.) are maximally protected.
