Application of ADR Machinery in Determining Tax Disagreements in Tanzania Mainland How Far have we Gone

Abstract

Tax is a compulsory contribution of citizens of a certain country towards the country’s development. Tax payment is an obligatory condition for every one of us who’s money resulting from business, investment, or employment for a year. Tax Disputes implies the general conflicts or disagreement between tax authority and tax payer arising from the decision of commissioner general. Such disagreement is normally caused by either poor interpretation of statutes or tax avoidance.

Alternative Dispute Resolution is the way of resolving dispute out of the court, it is one of the mechanisms applied to reduce overlapping of cases in the courts of law and intend to preserve the relationship between parties. The laws which deals with tax dispute settlement in Tanzania are Tax Administration Act, Tax Revenue Appeal Act, Tax Revenue Appeals Board Rules, and Tax Revenue Appeal Tribunal Rules. It is from these laws any aggrieved person is able to know what to appeal, who to appeal, where to appeal, how to appeal and when to appeal.

This paper aims at discussing and probing the applicability and enforcements of the alternative dispute resolution in undertaking disagreements ascending in tax administration precisely on how tax laws have encompassed the facet of alternative dispute resolution on the disagreements encompasses tax matters, and whether the same laws are sufficient enough to undertake tax disagreements through alternative dispute resolution.

Keywords: Tax, Tax Matter, Tax Disputes, Tax Laws, Alternative Dispute Resolution