Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Retrospective tax penalties are ‘unlawful’: Supreme Court

dawn.com · 19hShare

• Says sanctions under ITO 2001 cannot apply to assessments governed by repealed law • Settles conflict between two previous rulings ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that penalties imposed under the Income Tax Ordinance (ITO) 2001 for assessments completed before June 30, 2002 were illegal and legally unsustainable, emphasising that such penalties could not be applied retrospectively. A five-judge SC larger bench, headed by Justice Shahid Waheed, also resolved a conflict between two decisions of three-member benches — the 2009 Eli Lilly Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd case and the 2016 Islamic Investment Bank Ltd case. The question before the SC was whether penalties under Sections 182, 184 and 186 of the ITO 2001 were lawful in view of the provisions of Section 239(3) of the ordinance. Authored by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, the 17-page judgement explained that in the Eli Lilly Pakistan case, the court had held that assessments completed under the repealed ITO 1979 must be governed str

First report: SC blocks retrospective tax penalties — tribune.com.pk, 1d