Financial Times

11th tax oration of ICASL this month

The eleventh tax oration of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Sri Lanka (ICASL), will be held on June 12 at the Institute’s auditorium.

The oration is set to be delivered by T. M. Manoharan, President, Institute of Chartered Accountants in India under the topic, “Retroactive legislation –weapon of mass destruction in tax legislation”. Retrospective legislation though not considered part of a democratic environment, in some countries has consistently used it to claim undue advantage in revenue administration over that of taxpayers.

It could be considered a means to impose a future tax liability for past transactions whereas retroactive legislation goes into the intolerable extent of re-fixing a tax liability for a past transaction. Sri Lanka has used both forms of legislation in the past to the advantage of the revenue administration. However, contemporary thinking of policy makers is not to rely on such legislations, especially the retroactive legislation.

ICASL’s Faculty of Taxation will release the consolidated text of the past ten annual orations on taxation, to enrich existing literature. The faculty which was established in 1995, by R. N. Asirwatham, Partner, KPMG Ford Rhodes Thornton & Co, conducts a certificate course in Taxation for its members and professionals, of which the 12th batch of this course is in progress.

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