If you surrendered your annuity insurance policy (or annuity savings product) in 2010 or a later year, you may have paid too much income tax. This is because the highest amount of the surrender amount or the total of the annuity premiums deducted in the past was taxed. Due to the often disappointing returns in recent years, it regularly happens that the surrender sum is lower than the total premiums deducted. You have then paid tax on a higher amount than you actually received from the product.
In a decree dated 3 September 2015, the State Secretary for Finance approved, in anticipation of a change in the law, that the minimum valuation rule described above would no longer be applied. This means that the amount of the actual surrender sum will be taxed. If the income tax assessment for the year of the surrender has already been definitively imposed, the Tax Authorities can be requested for an ex officio reduction. If surrendered in 2010, the request for reduction must be received by the Tax Authorities no later than 31 December 2015.