Q&A – 14 July 2014
No toilet in aeroplane
I flew from Dar to Mwanza in a small aircraft and had great problems in mid air as there were no toilets in the aircraft. I had to use a bottle to relieve myself much to my embarrassment. Is there no law that requires aircraft to have toilets?
GO, Dar
Section 3 of the Tanzania Civil Aviation (Economic Regulation) Regulations, 2006 provides requirements and states that (1) An undertaking whose principal place of business is within the United Republic shall establish a scheduled air service within the United Republic or between the United Republic and any State, if it meets the following requirements- (a) have reservation premise and facilities for ticket sales in each area to be served; (b) operates a sufficient number of aircraft to cope with the proposed route-schedule, must have a minimum of two aircraft; (c) for aircraft operating on a sector with duration of ninety minutes or more, there shall be toilet facilities; (d) have a timetable approved by the Authority and shall adhere to it; (e) file regularly, traffic and other statistical information including tariffs, in respect of those scheduled and other services operated, as may be prescribed by the aeronautical authority; (f) be qualified to do self-passenger handling or engage a qualified passenger handling company at each airport of operation. (2) Ownership of aircraft shall not be a condition for establishing a scheduled air services but aircraft used by an air carrier shall be registered in the United Republic, unless otherwise expressly authorized by the Authority.
You can see from the above that if this was a scheduled air service, and if the flight time was longer than 90 minutes, then it is mandatory that the aircraft have toilets.
You have a cause of action and can report this to the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority who may take appropriate action.
TRA threatens with one third
I have TRA officers who are threatening to shut me down if I don’t talk to them. They claim that once they issue me with my tax obligations I will have to deposit one third if I want to challenge it. Since they claim I am not cooperating, they have quadrupled the tax liability so that I am unable to pay the one third. They are very malicious. What options do I have?
YU, Dar
First and foremost, the one third only applies to assessments and not otherwise. Assessments are normally issued for Income tax and vat liabilities. Hence you need to check whether your tax obligations fall into one of these categories. If not, and for example the issue is around stamp duty or withholding tax, both these are not assessments and hence the provisions governing the one third do not apply here.
Section 12 of the Tax Revenue Appeals Act deals with this and states that (1) Any person who disputes an assessment made upon him may, by notice in writing to the Commissioner General, object to the assessment. (2) A notice of objection shall contain a statement in precise form, of grounds in respect of which the objection to an assessment is made, and shall be filed with the Commissioner General within thirty days from the date of service of the notice of the assessment. (3) Where a notice of objection to an assessment is given, the person objecting shall, pending the final determination of the objection to an assessment by the Commissioner General in accordance with section 13, pay the amount of tax which is not in dispute or one third of the assessed tax, whichever amount is greater. (4) The Commissioner General may, upon being satisfied that there exist good reasons warranting reduction or waiver of tax payable in accordance with the requirement of subsection (3), direct that a lesser amount be paid or waive the required tax deposit. (5) On receipt of the notice of objection, the Commissioner General shall – (a) admit the notice of objection to assessment of tax; or (b) refuse to admit the notice of objection to assessment of tax. (6) The Commissioner General shall not refuse to admit the notice of objection to assessment of tax unless – (a) the notice does not comply with the requirements of subsections (1), (2) or (3); (b) the notice does not raise any question of law or fact in relation to the assessment; (c) the relief sought cannot be granted in law or equity; (d) the objection is time barred; or (e) the objection is otherwise misconceived. (7) If the Commissioner General is satisfied that owing to absence from the United Republic, sickness or other reasonable cause the person objecting to the assessment was prevented from giving notice within the time prescribed he may, upon application by that person, and subject to his satisfying the requirement of subsection (2) or, as the case may be, subsection (3), admit the notice after the expiry of the authorized period and the notice so admitted shall be valid as if it were submitted in time. (8) Any person who is aggrieved with the refusal by the Commissioner General to admit the notice of objection may, on depositing with the Commissioner General the amount of tax assessed which is not in dispute or one third of the amount of tax assessed, whichever is greater, together with the interest due as a result of late payment of the tax in respect of which the notice of late payment of the tax in respect of which the notice of objection is issued, appeal to the Board against the refusal and the decision of the Board on whether or not the notice of objection be admitted by the Commissioner General shall be final.
The one third can be waived provided you cite good reasons. Reasons that may be accepted by TRA include the company is highly leveraged, hasn’t started making profits, hasn’t started generating revenues, is nearly insolvent to mention a few.
Your tax consultant can guide you further.