Burden of proof in tax disputes could rest either on the taxpayer or on the tax authority or sometimes both could bear the burden of proof. For instance under the United States and Canadian tax laws the primary burden of producing adequate evidence to rebut the assessment or decision of the tax authority rests on the tax payer. On the other hand countries like Sweden, Netherlands and Spain in their tax laws share the burden of proof in tax disputes between the tax payer and the tax authority. Hence in these counties the burden of proof in tax disputes is shared between the litigating parties.  As such the tax inspector must deduce evidence for a profit adjustment and on the other the tax payer must substantiate an exemption or deduction alleged. To the contrary tax laws in Denmark, France and Finland locate the burden of proving the accuracy of the tax decisions made according to estimation on the tax authority.  Similarly in Hungary the tax authority is obliged to prove the bad faith of the tax payer when prohibiting the deduction on VAT. This shows that there are possibilities where by tax authorities could bear the burden of proof in tax disputes.

Part of the Ethiopian government’s actions to reduce Covid-19’s effect on the economy is the recently issued directive to remit tax liabilities of taxpayers number 64/2020 (the “Directive”). This directive was issued by the Ministry of Finance pursuant to the mandate bestowed to it by the Federal Tax Administration Proclamation Number 983/2016. The purpose of the directive is to reduce the damage caused by Covid-19 on taxpayers. And, the tax liabilities subject to remission are tax liabilities of before and during 2018.

በዚህ ጽሑፍ ስለ ግብር ስወራ ምንነት፣ በተለያዩ የግብር ዓይነቶች ሥር የግብር ስወራ ስለሚያቋቋሙ ድርጊቶች፣ ለግብር ስወራ መነሻ ሊሆኑ ስለሚችሉ ምክንያቶች እንዲሁም የመከላከያ መንገዶቹ ለመዳሰስ እሞክራለሁ፡፡ ይህንን ጽሑፍ ለመጻፍ መነሻ የሆነኝ የፌደራል መጀመሪያ ደረጃ ፍርድ ቤት የጉምሩክና ታክስ ወንጀል ችሎት ዳኛ ሆኜ ስሠራ በነበርኩበት ጊዜ የኢትዮጵያ ገቢዎችና ጉምሩክ ባለሥልጣን ለግብር ስወራ የወንጀል ክሶች ለማስረዳት ሲያቀርባቸው በነበሩ የታክስ ኦዲቶች ላይ የሚጠቀሱ ግኝቶች ናቸው፡፡ የተለያዩ የግብር ስወራ ወንጀሎች ፈጽመዋል በማለት ተከሰው በፍርድ ቤት ሲቀርቡ ለነበሩ ተከሳሾች ይቀርብ የነበረው ማስረጃ፣ በታክስ ኦዲተሮች የሚሠራ የታክስ ኦዲት ግኝቶች ዝርዝር የሚገልጽ የጽሑፍ ማስረጃ እንዲሁም ይህንኑ የታክስ ኦዲት የሠሩ ባለሙያዎች በሙያ ምስክርነት ቀርበው የሚሰጡት የምስክርነት ቃል በዋናነት የሚጠቀሱ ናቸው፡፡

Income taxation is fundamentally territorial. Due to the existence of multiple sovereign states' interests in the tax collected over economic activities, the legal framework for taxation is also complex. The doctrine of state sovereignty provides the conceptual foundations for the legal framework within which States can exercise their taxing power over economic activity. In the terms of public international law, sovereignty demarcates the State’s tax jurisdiction.

Income tax is a tax levied on a person’s income from various sources. It is a direct tax in that it is demanded from the very persons who, intended or desired, should pay it. Hence, every person, either a natural person or a corporate entity, should have to pay income tax on the respective income they derived.  Nevertheless, income driven by a taxpayer may not always be holy. Some incomes earned illegally can be mixed with the lawfully acquired income of the taxpayer. For instance, a shop selling contraband products with lawful once, a hotel collecting payment from prostitutes… etc. At the end of the day, if not understated, such incomes will be reported to tax authorities.

(‘ደረሰኝ የማይሰጥ ከሆነ አይክፈሉ')

ደረሰኝ  ምን ማለት ነው?

የታክስ አስተዳደር አዋጅ ቁጥር 983/2008 አንቀጽ 19፣120 እና 131(1)(ለ) እንዲሁም የፌደራል የገቢ ግብር አዋጅ ቁጥር 979/2008 አንቀጽ 82 ላይ የተደነገጉ ድንጋጌዎችን ጣምራዊ ንባብ እና ሌሎች አግባብነት ያላቸው ሕጎች  መሠረት በማድረግ የደረሰኝ ትርጉም እና ምንነት፣ የደረሰኞች ዓይነቶች እና ደረሰኝ የመስጠት ግዴታ ያለባቸው ግብር ከፋዮችን እነማን እነደሆኑ እንዲሁም ደረሰኝ መሰጠት ያለበት መች እንደሆነ በወፍ በረር መልኩ ለመዳሰስ እሞክራለሁኝ፡፡

It is perplexing for me, as a tax lawyer having worked for close to 10 years on Ethiopian tax laws, to see how the investment and finance community in Ethiopia is not worrying enough about the tax on premiums “introduced” recently by the Ministry of Finance. It is perplexing because this “newly introduced” tax is unclear on many fronts, and anyone who has had any engagements with the Ethiopian Tax Authorities knows how the tax administration is beset by the misapplication of even some of the well-articulated tax laws, let alone those with uncertainties.

Globalization and economic growth have driven inter-company transactions to new heights. It’s estimated that more than 2/3 of all business transactions worldwide occur within groups. In particular, developing countries are observing immense growth in intra-group transactions because their economies are still in the process of opening up and attracting large amounts of FDI. So, it’s of immense importance to halt challenges posed to both national & world economies through controlled transactions. In this article, I briefly discussed the conceptual introduction of transfer pricing, the arm’s length principle, transfer pricing methods recognized under OECD & UN transfer pricing guidelines, and Ethiopian tax law. Finally, I tried to address whether the Ethiopian Transfer pricing law & regulation accords or contradicts with OECD & UN transfer pricing manual.

አንድ ግብር ከፋይ በንግድ እንቅስቃሴው ያመነበትን ወስኖ ያቀረበውን የሂሣብ መግለጫዎችን የታክስ ባለስልጣኑ የግብር ኦዲት በመስራት ግብር ከፋዩ ሊከፍል የሚገባውን ግብር ይወስናል፡፡ በአገራችን የግብር አወሳሰን ዘዴዎች ሁለት ናቸው፡፡ እነዚህም በሂሳብ መዝገብ ወይም በግምት መሠረት ናቸው፡፡

ግብር ከፋዩ ለግብር አወሳሰን ያቀረበው የሂሳብ መዝገብ ሰነዶች ከተጣራ /ከተመረመረ/ በኋላ በመዝገቡ መሠረት ሊከፈል የሚገባው ግብር የሚወሰን ሲሆን፤ በሌላ በኩል የታክስ ባለሥልጣኑ ግብር ከፋዩ ሊከፍል የሚገባውን ግብር በግምት ሊወስን ይችላል፡፡

The House of Peoples Representatives has approved the infamous Excise Tax Proclamation (The Proclamation) last Thursday, February 13, 2020. Within hours from the approval of the proclamation, Ministry of Revenues have written a letter to manufacturers of excisable goods stating that the proclamation will be implemented starting from February 14, 2020, which in effect violates both the FDRE Constitution and Negarit Gazeta Establishment Proclamation. The proclamation has not yet been published in the Negarit Gazeta and there are notorious discrepancies between the Amharic and English versions. In addition, with no transition time given to the manufacturers, they are forced to prepare manual invoices, which separately shows the amount of excise tax payable in the transaction as the new law requires the amount of excise tax should be separately shown in the invoice.