Introduction

In the course of lodging your tax objection, at some point you might have experienced Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) rejecting documentary evidence / information not submitted during audit stage.

Normally, TRA will cite the provisions of section 53(1) & (6) of the Tax Administration Act (TAA), 2015, R.E 2023 as grounds for rejecting documentary evidence / information not previously provided during audit stage.

On the other hand, taxpayers normally challenge the TRA’s above approach by citing the provisions of section 62(5) & (6) of the TAA, 2015, R.E 2023 as provisions that permit them to introduce all relevant information / documentary evidence to be relied upon for the determination of tax objections.

Background of the Case

Scanad Tanzania Limited (“Appellant”) is a local entity that is involved in the industry of developing communication strategies, creating advertisements for products, plans & buys media and provides marketing consultancy and advice.

In the course of ascertaining the Appellant’s compliance with the value added tax(VAT) regime, the TRA conducted the audit of the Appellant’s tax affairs for the years of income 2016, 2017 & 2018.

Thereafter, TRA asserted non compliance with the VAT regime vide underdeclared sales, unverified purchases, double claiming of the input VAT prompting the imposition of additional VAT liability amounting to TZS 1,627,384,591.

Aggrieved by the imposed additional VAT liability, the Appellant instituted objection proceedings and attached the documentary evidence including but not limited to the respective tax invoices.

The TRA challenged the admissibility of such documentary evidence on the assertion that the shared tax invoices were not adduced during audit stage therefore contravenes the provisions of section 53(1) & (6) of the TAA, 2015, R.E 2023.

Aggrieved by the deliberated evidence rejection decisions during objection and appeal stage i.e., Tax Revenue Appeals Board (“TRAB” or “Board”) & Tax Revenue Appeals Tribunal (“Tribunal” or “TRAT”), the Appellant sought redress before the Court of Appeal vide civil appeal No. 223 of 2025.

Gist of the Dispute

The dispute in the preferred appeal No. 223 of 2025 between Scanad Tanzania Limited and the Commissioner General (CG) – Tanzania Revenue Authority rested on admissibility of new evidence during objection stage and what constitutes a “notice in writing” envisaged under section 53 of the TAA, 2015, R.E 2023.

Court’s Decision

In deliberating the above dispute, the Court:

• Reiterated “email correspondences” and “notes of discussion – TRA” qualify as “notice in writing” envisaged under section 53 of the TAA, 2015, R.E 2023 ;
• Reiterated the applicability of the “doctrine of estoppel” – taxpayers receiving emails from TRA and acting on the same are estopped from claiming the same were not “notice in writing”;
• Reiterated that section 53(6) was intended to preclude the introduction of new evidence during objection, however, such provisions were in total disregard to the provisions of section 62 & 63; and
• Reiterated that there is no correlation between procedures/restrictions in Part VI of the TAA (audit or investigation) to procedures for determination of objection in Part VIII of the TAA, thus, it was erroneous for TRA to reject the Appellant’s new evidence submitted during objection.

Our Commentary

The authority cements the prevalence of natural justice by ensuring taxpayers’ right to challenge assessments and adduce all relevant information through objection is preserved.

Authored By:

Benedict John Kombaha

Tax Partner, Victory Attorneys and Consultants