December 2025: Mass Penalties and Sealing of Premises – Enhanced Collection or Administrative Arbitrariness?

I have never been a fan of end-of-year retrospectives. But today, on the last day of 2025, I feel obliged to share an experience I am witnessing for the first time in my practice of over 20 years.

I will remember the end of this year for the extremely aggressive control activity by the revenue authorities. In the name of increasing collection rates, Acts for establishing administrative violations (Acts) were issued en masse, immediately followed by Penal Decrees. The goal seems not to be prevention, but sanctioning at any cost, mainly small and medium-sized local businesses.

What we are witnessing is a mechanical application of pecuniary sanctions, without in-depth factual and legal assessment of the specific case and with total disregard for the principles of proportionality and fairness.

The Penal Decrees are often combined with the harshest coercive administrative measure – “sealing of a business premise” which comes at the busiest business period of the year.

It is exactly in such moments that one feels the immense value of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) as a safeguard against abusive practices of local administration.

The case law of the CJEU is the instrument that sets clear boundaries for the national administration.

The CJEU Judgment in Case C-97/21 (MV-98), delivered regarding a Bulgarian case, categorically establishes that:

• Sanctions and coercive measures must be strictly proportional;
• The accumulation of pecuniary sanctions (fine plus sealing) cannot lead to an excessive burden for the trader;
• Fiscal interest cannot justify measures that lead to substantial financial losses or a punitive effect beyond reasonable limits.

This judgment provides a strong legal basis for successfully challenging:

• Orders for the sealing of commercial premises;
• Acts and Penal Decrees issued in violation of the principle of proportionality;
• Systemic practices that contradict EU law.

A Wish for 2026

Tomorrow, we wake up in a new reality – the Euro becomes our country’s currency. I wish for this change not to be merely monetary, but to mark the beginning of a truly European, predictable, and fair tax administration!