According to the Nicaraguan legislation in force, the Administrative Silence is conceptualized as “The effect produced in the cases in which the Public Administration omits its obligation to resolve within thirty days. Once said term has elapsed without the Administration having issued any resolution, it shall be presumed that there is an acceptance of the request in favor of the interested party”.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in administrative proceedings before the General Revenue Directorate (DGI) and the Customs and Administrative Tax Court (TATA), special legislation prevails, i.e., the provisions of Law No. 562 “Tax Code of the Republic of Nicaragua” are applicable. In this sense, the Tax Code states that in cases where the competent authority does not issue an express resolution within the term established by law – which may vary depending on the instance in which we are – the Positive Administrative Silence (SAP) will operate in favor of the appellant, so that what is raised or requested by the appellant will be considered as positively resolved.
By virtue of the above, the Positive Administrative Silence is applicable once the term established by law for the competent administrative authority to issue a decision has expired. In those cases where the law does not establish a term to resolve or pronounce, the period of thirty days established in article 2, numeral 19 of Law No. 350 “Law of Regulation of the Contentious Administrative Jurisdiction” will be applicable in a supplementary manner.
It is important to consider that the Positive Administrative Silence, being a right of the taxpayer, does not operate ex officio; instead, the appellant or applicant must communicate in writing to the authority the concurrence of this and request the declaration of this by means of the applicable administrative resources. For this reason, it is essential to actively follow up on the computation of the deadlines and to have the corresponding tax advice to identify the rules applicable to the instance of the administrative procedure in which we find ourselves.