Failure to serve documents- Section 15(3) Tax Appeals Tribunal Act

The Tribunal noted that section 15(3) of the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act imposes an obligation on KRA to effect service of the Statement of Facts upon the appellant within two working days of submission to the Tribunal. KRA having filed its Statement of Facts on 30 July 2021 was thereby expected to serve the same on Carol Construction by close of business 03 August 2021. Therefore, this service was irregular. However, the statute does not envisage the entry of default judgments, as the Appellant always retains the residual burden of proof to establish that the tax assessment and objection decision were erroneous. Considering the foregoing, the Tribunal made the following orders:
The Statement of Facts filed by KRA deemed to be irregularly retained on record for want of proper service upon Carol Construction;
The Appeal to proceed to full hearing on its full merits with the Tribunal reserving its discretion on the manner in which to uphold the probative value of the Statement of Facts in the determination of the Appeal;