The back duty branch in the Malta inland revenue department.

Abstract

The term 'Back Duty' is the accepted English term signifying that tax which has, for some reason or other, escaped taxation. This dissertation is a brief study, from the administrative and social point of view, of the more important aspects involved in dealing with back-duty cases. The first part of the dissertation comprises the first three chapters which contain an introduction to the subject under discussion. In the first chapter the organisation of the Inland Revenue Department and the necessity of the Back Duty Branch is examined. The responsibility for the detection of tax evasion is also discussed in this chapter. The second chapter examines how backduty cases arise. In the third chapter the sources and the use of informative material is reviewed in some detail. The second part includes the next three chapters and covers the main points of the procedure followed in backduty investigations. Chapter four examines the procedure itself and the three main types of back-duty cases. Chapter five deals with the principles common to most cases. In this chapter the questions of the confirmation by affidavit and criminal prosecution are examined. The sixth chapter covers the investigation work proper and deals with the principle of 'res iudicata' as this applies to the income-tax assessments. In this chapter the problem of the responsibility of Accountants and Auditors in relation to the Inland Revenue Department is also discussed. Chapter seven may be considered as a digression and deals with the more important aspects of the assessment process. The Commissioner's authority to raise summary assessments, the judicial exercise of judgment, the Commissioner's discretionary powers, the use of administrative discretion and judicial control, are all discussed in brief detail. In this chapter extensive reference has been made to Griffith and Street in their Principles of' Administrative Law and to decisions of English and Maltese Courts of Law. The third and concluding part comprises the last three chapters and covers the questions of penalties and their mitigation (Chapter 8), the human factor involved in dealing with back-duty cases (Chapter 9), and the administrative aspect of staff training and public relations (Chapter 10). This subject having been discussed from the administrative and social point of view, no attempt has been made at being dogmatic and no details of a technical nature whatsoever have been entered into.