The House of Peoples Representatives has approved the infamous Excise Tax Proclamation (The Proclamation) last Thursday, February 13, 2020. Within hours from the approval of the proclamation, Ministry of Revenues have written a letter to manufacturers of excisable goods stating that the proclamation will be implemented starting from February 14, 2020, which in effect violates both the FDRE Constitution and Negarit Gazeta Establishment Proclamation. The proclamation has not yet been published in the Negarit Gazeta and there are notorious discrepancies between the Amharic and English versions. In addition, with no transition time given to the manufacturers, they are forced to prepare manual invoices, which separately shows the amount of excise tax payable in the transaction as the new law requires the amount of excise tax should be separately shown in the invoice.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought overall economic, political and social crisis in most parts of the world, including Ethiopia. Although there are criticisms on their effectiveness, the government of Ethiopia has been taking measures to ease the economic impact of COVID-19 on the business entities operating in the country. Earlier in April, a protocol was issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs cited as the COVID-19 Workplace Response Protocol, which regulates the relationship between employees and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. This protocol was a subject of criticisms due to its silence on the obligation and role of the government in sharing the burdens of employers.  

Income tax is essentially a tax levied on a person’s income from various sources. It is a direct tax in the sense that it is demanded from the very persons who, it is intended or desired, should pay it. Hence, every person either a natural person or a corporate entity should have to pay income tax on the respective income they derived.  Nevertheless, Income-driven by a taxpayer may not always be holy. Some incomes earned illegally can be mixed with the lawfully acquired income of the taxpayer. For instance, a shop selling contraband products with lawful once, a hotel collecting payment from prostitutes… etc. At the end of the day, if not understated, such incomes will be reported to tax authorities.

As the saying goes “Nothing is certain in life except death and tax.” It’s hardly possible to skip the verges of taxation in life. From the giants in wall street to anyone who has the purchasing ability from shop feels the hard pinch of tax either directly or indirectly.  Different forms of tax make through to the pockets of every member of the society. For instance, whenever you drink tea or coffee in a café you pay Value Added Tax (VAT).

It is perplexing for me, as a tax lawyer having worked for close to 10 years on Ethiopian tax laws, to see how the investment and finance community in Ethiopia is not worrying enough about the tax on premiums “introduced” recently by the Ministry of Finance. It is perplexing because this “newly introduced” tax is unclear on many fronts, and anyone who has had any engagements with the Ethiopian Tax Authorities knows how the tax administration is beset by the misapplication of even some of the well-articulated tax laws, let alone those with uncertainties.

Introduction

Income taxation is fundamentally territorial. Due to the existence of multiple sovereign states' interests in the tax collected over economic activities, the legal framework for taxation is also complex. The doctrine of state sovereignty provides the conceptual foundations for the legal framework within which States can exercise their taxing power over economic activity. In the terms of public international law, sovereignty demarcates the State’s tax jurisdiction.

መግቢያ

ማንኛውም ገቢ የሚያገኝ ሰው በፌዴራል የገቢ ግብር አዋጅ ቁጥር 979/2008 እና በታክስ አስተዳደር አዋጅ ቁጥር 983/2008 መሰረት ግብር የመክፈል ኃላፊነት አለበት፡፡[1] በሌላ በኩል የኢትዮጵያ ነዋሪ የሆነ ሰው ወይም የኢትዮጵያ ነዋሪ ያልሆነ በቋሚነት የሚሰራ ድርጅት፤ በኢትዮጵያ ነዋሪ ላልሆነ ሰው የትርፍ ድርሻ፣ የንዑስ ሥራ ተቋራጭ፣ የወለድ፣ የሮያሊቲ፣ የሥራ አመራር፣ የቴክኒካል፣ የመድን አረቦን፣ ወደ ውጭ አገር የሚላክ ትርፍ፣ እንዲሁም የሌሎች ገቢዎች ክፍያ ሲፈጽሙ ከጠቅላላ ክፍያው ላይ በግብር ሕጉ መጣኔ መሰረት ግብር ቀንሰው መያዝ እንዳለባቸው ተደንግጓል፡፡[2] በተመሳሳይ በኢትዮጵያ ነዋሪ የሆነ ሰው ወይም በኢትዮጵያ ነዋሪ ያልሆነ በቋሚነት የሚሰራ ድርጅት ከመቀጠር ከሚገኝ ገቢ፣ ከትርፍ ድርሻ ወይም ካልተከፋፈለ ትርፍ፣ ከወለድ፣ ከሮያሊቲ፣ እና ከሌላ በአገር ውስጥ ከሚፈጸም ክፍያ ላይ በግብር ሕጉ መጣኔ መሰረት ግብር ቀንሰው መያዝ አለባቸው፡፡[3]

መግቢያ

የዚህ ጽሑፍ ዋና ዓላማ ያለደረሰኝ ግብይት የማከናወን ወንጀል ላይ መሠረታዊ የሆነ መረዳት እንዲኖር ማድረግ እና ያለደረሰኝ ግብይት ከማከናወን ወንጀል ጋር በተያያዘ እየቀረቡ ያሉ አንዳንድ ማብራሪያዎች (commentaries) ላይ የሚስተዋሉትን ግድፈቶች ማቃናት አስፈላጊ ሆኖ በመገኘቱ ነው፡፡

ያለደሰኝ ግብይት ወንጀል የኢትዮጵያ የታክስ ሕግ ወንጀል አካል ሆኖ የተደነገገው በ2001 ዓ.ም ሲሆን ይህም በአዋጅ 609/2001 አንቀጽ 50 (ሐ) እና 50 (መ) 2 መሠረት ነው፡፡ ምንም እንኳ ጥቂት ለውጥ ቢደረግባቸውም እነዚህ አንቀፆች በታክስ አስተዳደር አዋጅ 983/2008 አንቀጽ 120/1 እና 131(1)(ለ) ላይ ከተደነገገውና ያለደረሰኝ ግብይትን የወንጀል ተግባር አድርጎ ከሚደነግጉት አንቀፆች ጋር የጎላ የይዘት ልዩነት የላቸውም፡፡

መግቢያ

አንድ ግብር ከፋይ በንግድ እንቅስቃሴው ያመነበትን ወስኖ ያቀረበውን የሂሣብ መግለጫዎችን የታክስ ባለስልጣኑ የግብር ኦዲት በመስራት ግብር ከፋዩ ሊከፍል የሚገባውን ግብር ይወስናል፡፡ በአገራችን የግብር አወሳሰን ዘዴዎች ሁለት ናቸው፡፡ እነዚህም በሂሳብ መዝገብ ወይም በግምት መሠረት ናቸው፡፡

ግብር ከፋዩ ለግብር አወሳሰን ያቀረበው የሂሳብ መዝገብ ሰነዶች ከተጣራ /ከተመረመረ/ በኋላ በመዝገቡ መሠረት ሊከፈል የሚገባው ግብር የሚወሰን ሲሆን፤ በሌላ በኩል የታክስ ባለሥልጣኑ ግብር ከፋዩ ሊከፍል የሚገባውን ግብር በግምት ሊወስን ይችላል፡፡

በግምት የሚወሰን ግብር በሦስት አይነት ዘዴዎች የሚከናወን ሲሆን እነዚህም፤

ABSTRACT