Finance Act, 1989

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Amendment of section 19 (tax due and payable) of Principal Act.

58.—Section 19 of the Principal Act is hereby amended in subsection (3) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1983 ) by the insertion after paragraph (a) of the following paragraph:

“(aa) (i) In this paragraph:

‘accounting period’ means a period, as determined by the Collector-General from time to time in any particular case, consisting of a number of consecutive taxable periods not exceeding six;

‘authorised person’ means a taxable person who has been authorised in writing by the Collector-General for the purposes of this paragraph and ‘authorise’ and ‘authorisation’ shall be construed accordingly.

(ii) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a)—

(I) the Collector-General may, from time to time, authorise in writing a taxable person for the purposes of this paragraph, unless the taxable person objects in writing to the authorisation,

and

(II) an authorised person may, within nine days immediately after the tenth day of the month immediately following an accounting period furnish to the Collector-General a true and correct return prepared in accordance with regulations of the amount of tax which became due by him during the taxable periods which comprise the accounting period, not being tax already paid by him in relation to goods imported by him, and, the amount, if any, which may be deducted in accordance with section 12 in computing the amount of tax payable by him in respect of such taxable periods and such other particulars as may be specified in regulations, and at the same time remit to the Collector-General any amount of tax payable by him in respect of such taxable periods, and, where the authorised person concerned so furnishes and remits, he shall be deemed to have complied with the provisions of paragraph (a) in relation to the said taxable periods.

(iii) For the purposes of issuing an authorisation to a taxable person, the Collector-General shall, where he considers it appropriate, have regard to the following matters—

(I) he has reasonable grounds to believe that—

(A) the authorisation will not result in a loss of tax, and

(B) the taxable person will meet all his obligations under the authorisation,

and

(II) the taxable person has—

(A) been a registered person during all of the period consisting of the six taxable periods immediately preceding the period in which an authorisation would, if it were issued, have effect, and

(B) complied with the provisions of paragraph (a).

(iv) An authorisation may—

(I) be issued either without conditions or subject to such conditions as the Collector-General, having regard in particular to the considerations mentioned in subparagraph (iii), considers proper and specifies in writing to the taxable person concerned when issuing the authorisation,

(II) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, require an authorised person to remit to the Collector-General, within nine days immediately after the tenth day of the month immediately following each taxable period (other than the final taxable period) which is comprised in an accounting period, such an amount as may be specified by the Collector-General.

(v) The Collector-General may, by notice in writing, terminate an authorisation and, where a taxable person requests him to do so, he shall terminate the authorisation.

(vi) For the purposes of terminating an authorisation the Collector-General shall, where he considers it appropriate, have regard to the following matters:

(I) he has reasonable grounds to believe that the authorisation has resulted or could result in a loss of tax, or

(II) the taxable person—

(A) has furnished, or there is furnished on his behalf, any incorrect information for the purposes of the issue to him of an authorisation, or

(B) has not complied with the provisions of paragraph (a) or of this paragraph, including the conditions, if any, specified by the Collector-General under subparagraph (iv) in relation to the issue to him of an authorisation.

(vii) In relation to any taxable period in respect of which he has not complied with the provisions of paragraph (a), a person whose authorisation is terminated shall be deemed to have complied with paragraph (a) if, within twenty-one days of issue to him of a notice of termination, he furnishes to the Collector-General the return specified in paragraph (a) and at the same time remits to the said Collector-General the amount of tax payable by him in accordance with that paragraph.

(viii) (I) An authorisation shall be deemed to have been terminated by the Collector-General on the date that an authorised person—

(A) ceases to trade (except for the purposes of disposing of the stocks and assets of his business), whether for reasons of insolvency or any other reason,

(B) being a body corporate, goes into liquidation, whether voluntarily or not, or

(C) ceases to be a taxable person or a registered person, dies or becomes bankrupt.

(II) A taxable person to whom this subparagraph relates shall, in relation to any taxable period (or part of a taxable period) comprised in the accounting period which was in operation in his case on the date to which clause (I) of this subparagraph relates, be deemed to have complied with paragraph (a) if he furnishes to the Collector-General the return specified in subparagraph (ii) (II) and at the same time remits to the said Collector-General the amount of tax payable by him for the purposes of that subparagraph as if he were an authorised person whose accounting period ended on the last day of the taxable period during which the termination occurred:

Provided that the personal representative of a person who was an authorised person shall be deemed to be the taxable person concerned.”.