Judgment No. CCZ 7/2014 10
Const. Application No. 41/2014
him by the taxpayer, direct that the obligation to pay the tax be suspended pending determination
of the appeal by the Fiscal Appeal Court or pending a decision by a court of law.
Whilst ss 36 of the VAT Act and 69(1) of the Income Tax Act provide, that the
occurrence of any of the specified events, shall not suspend the taxpayer’s obligation to pay the
tax assessed to be due and payable, they at the same time create a remedy for the amelioration of
possible financial hardships faced by an individual taxpayer. They give the Commissioner the
discretionary power to suspend the obligation pending the determination of the appeal by the
Fiscal Appeals Court or pending the decision by a court.
Failure to fulfill an obligation may be due to a variety of circumstances. The
legislature decided to place the responsibility of deciding whether or not the particular
circumstances of a taxpayer, entitle him or her to a directive suspending the obligation to pay the
assessed tax, on the Commissioner. A court of law would be acting unlawful if it usurped the
discretionary powers of the Commissioner and ordered a suspension of the obligation on a
taxpayer to pay assessed tax pending determination of an appeal by the Fiscal Appeal Court.
The effect of the interim order sought by the applicant, has a direct relevance to
the determination of the question whether the obligation imposed on a taxpayer to pay the
amount of the tax assessed to be due and payable, infringes the taxpayer’s fundamental right of
access to a court and the right to administrative justice enshrined in ss 69(3) and 68(1) of the
Constitution respectively.