WHETHER FAILURE TO SERVE TAX ASSESSMENT NOTICE ON THE TAX PAYER IS AN INFRINGEMENT OF SECTION 36 PER FAIR HEARING?

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WHETHER FAILURE TO SERVE TAX ASSESSMENT NOTICE ON THE TAX PAYER IS AN INFRINGEMENT OF SECTION 36 PER FAIR HEARING? 

by Branham Chima. 

✓ DEFINITION(S): 
Tax assessment: is a formal communication sent by tax authorities to taxpayers to inform them of the amount of tax they owe based on the assessment of their taxable income. The notice of assessment provides details about the tax calculation, any deductions or exemptions applied, and the deadline for payment. It serves as an official document that establishes the taxpayer’s liability for the assessed tax amount. 

✓ ANSWER: 
The need of serving a notice of assessment to the taxpayer as part of the tax payment process, is vital. If a taxpayer is legally indebted to the tax authority for income tax under the personal income tax system, not informing them of the tax assessment would be considered an imposition and an arbitrary act. This failure to provide notice would infringe upon the taxpayer’s civil rights, including their right to fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

The above position was asserted in the case of Fasogbon v. Layande (1999) 11 NWLR (Pt. 6280) 543, wherein it was held at pages 556 557 that: ‘From the steps that must be taken before the tax payable is evolved, to argue that serving notice of assessment on the tax payer is not part of the procedure under the decree is unthinkable. It is like a Romeo without a Juliet. In the realm of the law, to say that the tax payer who by operation of personal income tax is legally indebted to the tax authority for the assessed income tax is not informed of the assessment of the income tax payable would be an imposition, an arbitrary act that affects his civil rights and therefore infringes upon his civil rights and of fair hearing under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.’ 

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