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INCOME TAX (DELIVERY OF RETURNS)
ACT, 1988 P.N.D.C.L. 201
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
1. Delivery of returns.
2. Indemnity for non-delivery.
3. Existing obligations and
liabilities.
4. Tax refund.
5. Application.
P.N.D.C.L. 201
INCOME TAX (DELIVERY OF RETURNS)
ACT, 19881(1)
AN ACT to provide for the
delivery of income tax returns
and for related matters.
1. Delivery of returns
An individual chargeable with
tax under the Income Tax Decree,
1975 (S.M.C.D. 5) who before the
commencement of this Act has not
delivered returns in accordance
with section 30 of that Decree
in
respect of a year of assessment
preceding 1st January, 1985
shall within two months after
the
commencement of this Act deliver
to the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue Service returns in
respect of
the years of assessment covering
the period commencing with 1st
January, 1985 and ending 31st
December 1987 and thereafter on
a regular basis in accordance
with section 30 of that Decree.
2. Indemnity for non-delivery
(1) An action or proceeding
shall not be taken or instituted
in a Court or tribunal under
section 58 of
that Decree against an
individual taxpayer for failure
to deliver a return under
section 30 of that Decree in
respect of a period preceding
1st January, 1985.
(2) For the purposes of
subsection (1), an individual is
not liable to pay a penalty
which that
individual would otherwise have
been liable to pay under section
59 or section 62 (A) of that
Decree.
3. Existing obligations and
liabilities
A provision of this Act shall
not affect any other obligation
or liability including liability
to tax
existing or incurred under that
Decree on or before the
commencement of this Act.
4. Tax refund
Despite section 1 of this Act
where an individual taxpayer
claims a tax refund in respect
of a year of
assessment the Commissioner may
require that individual taxpayer
to deliver appropriate returns
covering
the year of assessment in order
to enable him determine the tax
liability of the individual
taxpayer for
purposes of the claim.
5. Application
This Act does not apply to
companies and partners in
partnerships.
MEMORANDUM
Delivery of Returns
Section 1:
In order to facilitate the
delivery of returns to the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue
on regular basis
in the future it was realised
that since majority of
individual taxpayers had not in
the past delivered their
tax returns as required under
the law the resources of the
Service would be stretched
beyond tolerable
limits if the law were to be
enforced to require defaulting
taxpayers to deliver their
returns which in some
cases would date back to
antiquity.
Indeed, almost all taxpayers
have been guilty of the offence
of non-delivery of returns but
prosecution
on such a mass scale cannot
possibly be undertaken by the
Commissioner, and the court or
tribunal will
not have the time to cope with
such actions.
A cut-off date, i.e. 1st
January, 1985 has therefore been
fixed to enable individual
defaulting taxpayers
to deliver their returns in
respect of the period covering
1st January, 1985 to 31st
December, 1987 and
thereafter on a regular basis.
Indemnity for Non-delivery
Section 2:
Consequently, no prosecution
will be instituted against any
person for non-delivery of
returns in
accordance with section 30 of
S.M.C.D. 5 in respect of the
years preceding 1st January,
1985 nor will
such a person be liable to pay
any penalty under section 59 or
section 62 (A) of the Decree.
It is however to be noted that
the indemnity applies only to
non-delivery of returns. In
other words
action can be instituted against
an individual defaulting
taxpayer for non-payment of tax
if at the time the
Commissioner finds that he was
liable to pay tax in respect of
any period preceding the cut-off
date which
he failed or refused to pay
after such tax has been assessed
and a demand made on him by the
Commissioner to pay within a
prescribed period.
Existing Obligation, etc.
Section 3:
The Law, it must be emphasised,
does not cancel any other
existing obligation or liability
to pay the
tax due. Thus, any individual
who owed tax in respect of any
period preceding the cut-off
date could be
called upon to pay such tax if
the necessary information became
available to the Commissioner.
Tax Refund
Section 4:
Any individual may claim a tax
refund in respect of any period
preceding the cut-off date and
in this
case the Commissioner will
require that individual to
deliver a return covering such
period to enable him
to determine his true tax
obligation for purposes of his
claim.
Application of the Law
Section 5:
For the avoidance of doubt is
expressly provided that the Law
does not apply to companies and
partners of partnerships. It
applies only to individuals and
sole proprietors.
Endnotes
1 (Popup - Footnote)
1. This Act was issued as the
Income Tax (Delivery or Returns)
Law, 1988 (P.N.D.C.L. 201) made
on the 23rd
day of May, 1988 and notified in
the Gazette on 9th September,
1988. The Memorandum to the Law
is reproduced
after the text of this Act.
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