ACT No. XXIII of 2014 AN ACT to amend the Commissioner for Revenue Act, Cap.517.

I assent.

M ARIE L OUISE

(L.S.)

C OLEIRO P RECA

President

27th June, 2014

ACT No. XXIII of 2014

AN ACT to amend the Commissioner for Revenue Act, Cap.517.

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and

consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament

assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

The short title of this Act is the Commissioner for Revenue

(Amendment) Act, 2014, and this Act shall be read and construed as

one with the Commissioner for Revenue Act, hereinafter referred to

as "the principal Act".

Immediately before article 1 of the principal Act, there

shall be added the following new heading

"PART I

Preliminary provisions".

Immediately after article 2 of the principal Act, there shall

be added the following new heading

"PART II

Establishment of Commissioner for Revenue".

Article 3 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

(a) in sub-article (2) thereof, immediately after the words

"shall be exercised by the Commissioner", there shall be added the

words "and all references to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, the

Commissioner of Value Added Tax and the Comptroller of Customs

in any law shall be read and construed as references to the

Commissioner for Revenue";

(b) immediately after paragraph (c) of sub-article (4) thereof,

there shall be added the following new paragraphs

"(d) The Commissioner may, at any time, with the

concurrence of the Minister, resume any or all of the functions

delegated under this sub-article. A notice of any such

resumption of functions shall be published in the Gazette.

(e)

When the Commissioner resumes any functions that

were delegated to another person under this sub-article, he shall

also assume, in lieu of that person, the legal and judicial

representation of the Government on all documents, judicial

acts and actions that were drawn, sent, filed, instituted or taken

by or in the name of or against that person in virtue of the said

delegation.";

(c) immediately after sub-article (7) thereof, there shall be

added the following new sub-articles

"(8) Any judicial act filed by the Commissioner and any

judicial act filed by any person to be served upon the

Commissioner or in proceedings against the Commissioner in

terms or for the purposes of any revenue act, shall clearly

indicate in the heading, below the name of the court or tribunal

in which it is filed, the revenue act in question. A default of

compliance with this provision shall not constitute grounds for

the nullity of the judicial act or judicial proceedings in question

provided that the defect is rectified by the party filing that act as

soon as may be after it has been requested to do so by that court

or tribunal.

(9) The provisions of this article shall be without

prejudice to the powers of the Commissioner to assign duties

and delegate functions to officials within the revenue

departments and, where allowed by law, to other persons, as

may be necessary for the proper exercise of his functions

Provided that -

(a) an assignment or delegation as aforesaid shall

not in any way limit the powers, duties, rights and

functions of the Commissioner under any revenue act or

under this Act;

(b) the Commissioner may assign or delegate to

the same person functions that are related to more than one

revenue act or to the revenue acts in general.

(10) Notwithstanding anything contained in any

provision of the revenue acts or of any other law, the officials to

whom the Commissioner has delegated functions in accordance

with sub-article (4) shall furnish to the Commissioner such

information, being information obtained for any of the purposes

of a revenue act, as may be directed by the Commissioner and

the Commissioner may use or authorise the use of such

information and of any other information that he may obtain in

the course of the performance of his functions for the purposes

of any other revenue act.

(11) Notwithstanding the provisions of articles 1196 to

1204 of the Civil Code, both inclusive, no set-off may be made

of any debt due in terms of a revenue act to or by the

Commissioner or any official to whom the Commissioner has

delegated functions in accordance with sub-article (4) against

any debt due in terms of any other revenue act by or to the

Commissioner or such official as aforesaid

Provided that a set-off as aforesaid may be made and

shall have effect to such extent and in such manner as may be

approved by the Commissioner or as may be prescribed.".

Immediately after article 4 of the principal Act, there shall

be added the following Part and new article

''Part III

Revenue Remissions Supervisory Board

5. (1) There shall be set up in

Revenue

Remissions

accordance with the provisions of this Part, a

Supervisory

Board.

Board to be known as the Revenue

Remissions Supervisory Board (hereinafter

in this Part referred to as the ''Board'') for the

purpose of providing oversight on the

remission of amounts due to revenue

departments under the revenue acts.

(2) The Board shall consist of a

Chairperson to be appointed by the Minister

who shall preside over the Board and of such

number of members not being less than two

or more than six as the Minister may from

time to time appoint.

(3) The Chairperson and the members

of the Board shall be appointed by the

Minister in the following manner from

amongst persons who, in the Minister’s

opinion, have previous experience and

special qualifications in a particular field of

expertise falling within the competence of

the Board

(a) the Chairperson shall be

appointed from amongst persons who

are not public officers or employees in

the public sector; and

(b) the members of the Board

shall be appointed after being approved

by the Minister from a list which may

only include public officers and public

service employees submitted to the

Minister by the Commissioner for

Revenue.

(4) The Chairperson and the members

of the Board shall be appointed for a term of

three years and shall vacate their office at the

expiration of the term of their appointment

unless the appointment is extended or

renewed.

(5) Upon their appointment, the

Chairperson and the members of the Board

shall take an oath to carry out their functions

and duties with impartiality, fairness and

according to law and not to disclose any

matter that comes to their knowledge in the

exercise of their functions except as may be

necessary for the purpose of carrying out

such functions or in relation to matters

connected therewith or for the purpose of

complying with an order of a court or of

another competent body exercising judicial

or investigative functions under any law. The

oath shall be taken before the Attorney

General.

(6) The Board shall as much as

possible seek to adopt its conclusions by

unanimous decision but when such a decision

is not achievable it shall act by a majority of

votes from amongst the Chairperson and the

members.

(7) The reports on the conclusions of

the Board on individual cases or on exercises

of a general nature shall be signed by the

Chairperson and shall be sent to the

Commissioner for Revenue as soon as

possible after being adopted. In the said

reports the Board may also make

recommendations of a general or of a specific

nature.

(8) The Commissioner for Revenue

shall,

after

having

examined

a

recommendation of the Board, report to the

Chairperson of the Board within a period of

two months informing him about any final

decision taken upon the recommendation.

(9) The Board shall, by the 30th April

of every year following the year when it is

appointed issue a general report on its

activities during the previous year. The report

shall include statistical information on the

cases examined during the reporting period.

(10) The Chairperson shall receive

such remuneration as the Minister may from

time to time determine.

(11) The Minister may by order

establish sections of the Revenue Remissions

Supervisory Board and may designate the

categories of particular oversight or exercises

to be assigned to each section. The Minister

may by subsequent order amend, revoke or

substitute such order.

(12) When the Chairperson or a

member of the Board has abstained from

sitting, or is otherwise unable to act, another

Chairperson or member shall be appointed by

the Minister to the Board or to a section

thereof and shall be surrogated in his or her

stead.''.

Immediately after article 5 of the principal Act there shall Addition of new

Part and new

be added the following new Part and the following new article

article to the

principal Act.

''Part IV

Miscellaneous

6. (1) Without prejudice to the generality of

article 4, and subject to sub-article (2), the Minister

may direct that provisions relating to the

administration of a revenue Act shall apply in such

manner and to such extent as may be prescribed for the

purpose of the administration of another revenue Act

and shall accordingly be read and construed and shall

be binding and have effect, mutatis mutandis, as if

they were provisions contained in that other revenue

Act.

(2) Regulations under sub-article (1) may be

made with respect to provisions relating to the

keeping, production, collection and inspection of any

information, books and records.''.

Immediately after article 6 of the principal Act there shall Addition of new

article to the

be added the following new article

principal Act.

7. The Commissioner of Inland Revenue

(Constitution of Office) Act is hereby repealed.".

Article 9B of the Income Tax Act shall be amended as Amendment of

article 9B of the

Income Tax Act.

(a) in subarticle (4) thereof, immediately after the second

proviso thereto, there shall be added the following new proviso

"Provided also that in the case of a qualifying asset that is

registered under the Investment Registration Scheme

Regulations, 2014, made under the External Transactions Act,

the references to the dates "31st March, 2005" and "1st January,

2005" in subarticle (2) and "31st March, 2005" in subarticle (3)

shall be construed as references to "4th November, 2013", "1st

January, 2013" and “31st May, 2014”, respectively.";

(b) immediately after the last proviso to subarticle (4) thereof,

there shall be added the following new subarticles

"(5) Where a person has availed himself of this article

with respect to the Investment Registration Scheme

Regulations, 2014, any losses referred to in article 5(10)(a) and

article 14(1)(g) declared in the return for year of assessment

2013 and for any preceding year of assessment, whenever

submitted, shall not be carried forward and set off against the

total income of the said person for the year preceding the year of

assessment 2014 or in any subsequent year.

(6) (a) A person who is served with a notice of enquiry

referred to in article 13(7) of the Income Tax Management Act

shall, within thirty days from the date of service of the said

notice, submit to the Commissioner the Registration Certificate

referred to in regulation 9 of the Investment Registration

Scheme Regulations, 2014.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subarticle (2),

the exemption referred to in the said subarticle shall not apply if

the person referred to in paragraph (a) fails to submit the said

Certificate within thirty days from the date of service of the said

notice

Provided that the Commissioner, upon being satisfied

that the said person was prevented from submitting the said

Certificate within such period owing to absence from Malta,

sickness or other reasonable cause, may extend the period as

may be reasonable in the circumstances.".

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 165 of the

18th June, 2014.

A NĠLU F ARRUGIA

Speaker

R AYMOND S CICLUNA

Clerk to the House of Representatives