Government Proposes Major changes to the Tax Administration Act

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The Attorney General has announced on 24th July 2019, that a bill has been sent to the President’s Office, proposing a number of amendments to the Tax Administration Act (Law Number 3/2010).

As per the Attorney General’s Office, the purpose of this bill is to reinforce the competency of the Tax Authority, make the Commissioner General of Taxation and Deputy Commissioner General of Taxation more equitable and responsible through a more transparent tax system and simplify some of the procedural requirements under the current tax regime.

As such, the bill proposes to:

  1. Bring changes to the administrative framework of MIRA’s Board and include a Board member representative of the Ministry of Finance.
  2. Determine a tenure for the Commissioner General of Taxation and the Deputy Commissioner General of Taxation.
  3. Require the Commissioner General of Taxation, Deputy Commissioner General of Taxation and the Board Members of MIRA to submit financial statements to the Auditor General’s Office.
  4. Specify a period within which the MIRA must make a decision on Objections filed by taxpayers.
  5. Repeal the requirement of making all outstanding tax payments prior to lodging an appeal to the Tax Appeal Tribunal and allow the Tax Appeal Tribunal to accept appeals to tax assessments if 30% of the amount under dispute is paid to the MIRA.
  6. Revise the current procedures on publication of Tax Rulings so that the developments arising from the Tax Rulings are more apparent and clearer to the public.

These legislative changes are yet to be passed by the Parliament.

 

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