| 4/2/2012 |
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| Court of Appeal - Decisions in Income Tax Cases |
| Case No: 19 |
Decided on 17 October 1957 |
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Re-Opening Of Claims For Refund Of Tax That Were Already Statute Barred Following An Amendment To The Law.
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Claims for refund of tax could only be made within two years after the end of the relative year of assessment. As this was manifestly inappropriate, in practice the Revenue accepted claims within two years after the service of the relative assessment. The law was eventually amended to enable claims to be made "within four years from the date on which the assessment in respect of the year of assessment to which it relates becomes final and conclusive".
Taxpayer's claim was already statute barred when the new arrangements came into force, but it would have been valid had it fell under the new law. The Revenue maintained that what had become statute barred could not be re-opened by a new law unless this made specific provision for re-opening. Both the Board and the Court agreed stating that the principle of non-retroactive effect of laws was applicable in this case, once there was no specific provision made for re-opening the past. What was closed could not be re-opened by the new provisions made. The tribunals made extensive reference to Italian text books on the issue.
BSC Case No: 6/57
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