Cap. 406 Art. 32Power to make assessments when a return has been furnished.

(1) When the Commissioner has reason to believe that a tax return furnished by a person registered under article 10 for a tax period does not contain a full and correct statement of the matters required to be declared in that return he may make a provisional assessment and serve that provisional assessment on that person by not later than six years from the end of the said tax period or from the date in which the tax return for that tax period is submitted, whichever date is the later:

Provided that where the provisional assessment refers to the adjustment relating to input tax on capital goods mentioned in the Tenth Schedule, it shall be served by not later than six years from the end of the adjustment period mentioned in the said schedule: Provided further that, where a person makes a correction in terms of article 28(1), the six year period in which the Commissioner may make a provisional assessment as provided for in this sub-article shall start to run from the date on which the Commissioner receives the request for the correction.

(2) A provisional assessment shall indicate clearly that it is a provisional assessment and that it may be followed by an assessment within the time limits specified in sub-article (3). Save as aforesaid a provisional assessment shall contain all the particulars that are required to be given in an assessment and such further particulars as the Commissioner may deem appropriate.

(3) After the expiration of a period of not less than thirty days and not more than six months from the service on a person of a provisional assessment in respect of a tax period the Commissioner may make an assessment of the output tax and the deductions of that person for that period and of the administrative penalty to which that person became liable and serve that assessment on that person.

(4) The assessment made in virtue of sub-article (3) may not contain any variations to the amounts specified in the relative provisional assessment except for -

(a) variations requested by or agreed to by the said person;

(b) variations consisting in the substitution for amounts shown in the provisional assessment of amounts that are equal or closer to those declared in the relative tax return.

(5) The Commissioner may, for the purposes of this Act, cancel any provisional assessment raised by him, and issue a fresh provisional assessment, and such cancellation shall be without prejudice to the raising of a fresh provisional assessment required to be raised under this Act in replacement of the provisional assessment so cancelled which shall be deemed not to have been raised.

Such fresh provisional assessment has to be raised within the time limit specified in sub-article (1).