December 23: The government has given a grace period of one month for disgruntled tax payers to withdraw cases filed for tax review. In doing so, the taxpayers will get waivers on fine as well as interest on taxes.
The taxpayers who have applied for administrative review of tax assessment by various tax offices and filed cases in the court and revenue tribunal can withdraw the case until mid-January 2022 to benefit from the scheme. If the taxpayer withdraws the case within the given period, the interest, additional fee and penalty will be waived.
The government had introduced such a provision through the Financial Act. According to the Article 20 of the Act, there is a provision to waive the fees, additional charges and penalties if the taxpayers withdraw the cases of administrative review.
A notice published on Nepal Gazette on December 15 reads 'the deadline has been extended to offer the waiver facility to the taxpayers as the service delivery has been hampered by the delayed appointment of chairperson in Revenue Tribunal in many areas.'
According to the Inland Revenue Department, 1,205 applicants have registered for administrative reviews. According to Raju Prasad Pyakurel, information officer of the department, 94 applications have been withdrawn following the government notice. However, the number of cases pending in the revenue tribunals and courts is not known yet.
Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has even instructed the revenue officials to publish the details of the tax dispute cases. He believes the Inland Revenue and the Revenue Investigation Department should make tax disputes cases public.
The budget announcement of the current Fiscal Year, Income Tax Act 2058, Value Added Tax Act 2052 and Excise Duty Act 2058, provides fifty percent waiver on interest for the tax determined until the mid July 2021, if the taxpayers withdraw cases filed for administrative review.
Similarly, additional fees, penalty and fines will be waived if the due amount determined until mid-July 2020 is paid till mid-January 2022.
