Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2019-10-15

Amendment to the Tax Appeals Commission Act

- It has been identified that it is appropriate to increase the number of panels to hear the appeals, as at present, there are 495 cases to the value of Rs.63 billion pending before the Tax Appeals Commission which has been established under the Tax Appeals Commission Act, No.23 of 2011. However, due to the reasons such as, the inability of increasing the number of panels without increasing the number of Members of the Commission and the difficulty in obtaining the services of the retired Judges of the Supreme Court or Court of Appeal, have been found as obstacles in this regard. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Minister of Finance, to instruct the Legal Draftsman to amend the Tax Appeals Commission Act, incorporating provision to increase the number of Members to be appointed to the Tax Appeals Commission from (9) to (12), to increase the Panels to be appointed from (03) to (04) and to make provision for four Members out of the twelve to be appointed from the retired Judges of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal or the High Court of Sri Lanka or to appoint the retired senior officers of the Attorney General's Department who have held the position of the Deputy Solicitor General or above and also to amend the Inland Revenue Act, No.24 of 2017 incorporating provision to make or hear appeals against assessments issued under the said Act, since legal provisions are not provided therein in this regard, was approved by the Cabinet.