The Ministry of Justice informs that a suspension of time limits will be introduced for declarations submitted to a court. This suspension of time limits expressly includes the submission of accounting documents. The legal basis for this is Art. 21 ยง 2 of the 2nd COVID-19 Act, Federal Law Gazette I No. 16/2020.
The provision entered into force on 22 March 2020 and will expire at the end of 31 December 2020. Should the measures taken by the Federal Government in connection with Covid-19 continue beyond 30 April 2020, the Federal Minister may still extend this period by ordinance.
The nine-month period for the disclosure of accounting documents and the two-month period for the imposition of repeated penalties also fall under the suspension of time limits.
The suspension of time limits applies to all time limits that began to run before 22 March 2020 and have not expired on that date or began to run between 22 March 2020 and 1 May 2020 (subject to extension by regulation).
The running of time limits that do not begin until after 30 April 2020 is not currently affected by the provision - subject to an extension by ordinance.
This means the following in individual cases:
For all annual financial statements that must be received by the Companies Registration Court after 21 March 2020, the deadline (currently, subject to a possible extension by ordinance) is extended by 40 days. For example, if the closing date is 31 December, the annual financial statements must be submitted to the Companies Register Court by 30 September 2020. This deadline is extended by 40 days, i.e. ends on 9.11.2020.