አዋጅ ቁጥር-1160/2011 የጉምሩክ አዋጅ 859/2006 ማሻሻያ አዋጅ ሲሆን በዚህ አዋጅ የጉምሩክ አዋጅ 859/2006 ውስጥ ባሉት አንዳንድ ድንጋጌዎች ላይ ማሻሻያ ተደርጓል፡፡ ከተደረጉ ማሻሻያዎች በዋናነት የሚጠቀሰው በአከራካሪ የወንጀል ድንጋጌዎች ላይ የተደረገው ማሻሻያ ሲሆን በዚህ ፅሁፍ በማሻሻያ አዋጁ የተሸሩ፣የተሸሻሉና እንደ አዲስ የተካተቱ የወንጀል ድንጋጌዎች አጠር ባለመልኩ ተዳሰዋል፡፡

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).

Taxation is as old as history of early state formation. As tax remains essential source of public finance, states used to collect taxes for public funding. Apart from its extant condemnation by modern governments, one can strongly argue that tax evasion remains persistent challenge from the very inception of state. Nowadays, following the advancement of public finance the concept of tax evasion get emphasis by tax scholars. It is now condemned and categorized as anti-social behaviors as well as criminal act.

የሂሳብ መዝገብ መያዝ ለመልካም የንግድ አሠራር ሥርዓት በጣም ጠቃሚና ከማንኛውም ግብር ከፋይ የሚጠበቅ፤ የንግድ አሠራር ሥርዓቱም የሚጠይቀው በመሆኑ በንግድ ሥራ ውስጥ ያለ አብይ ተግባር ሲሆን ለግብር አሰባሰብና አስተዳደር አመቺ እንዲሆን ከደረጃ ‘ሐ’ ግብር ከፋዮች ማለትም የቁርጥ ግብር ከሚከፍሉት በስተቀር ማንኛውም በንግድ ሥራ ላይ የተሠማራ ወይም የሚከራዩ ህንፃዎች ባለቤት የሆነ ሰው የሂሳብ መዝገቦችንና ሰነዶችን የመያዝ ግዴታ እንዳለበት በገቢ ግብር አዋጅ ቁጥር 286/1994 አንቀጽ 48 ላይ በግልጽ ተደንግጓል።

“In the Judgment alone is to be found the law in its living form.” “ሕግ ህያው በሆነ ቅርጹ የሚገኘው በፍርዶች ውስጥ ብቻ ነው”  Marcel Planiol

Burden of proof in tax disputes could rest either on the taxpayer or on the tax authority or sometimes both could bear the burden of proof. For instance under the United States and Canadian tax laws the primary burden of producing adequate evidence to rebut the assessment or decision of the tax authority rests on the tax payer. On the other hand countries like Sweden, Netherlands and Spain in their tax laws share the burden of proof in tax disputes between the tax payer and the tax authority. Hence in these counties the burden of proof in tax disputes is shared between the litigating parties.  As such the tax inspector must deduce evidence for a profit adjustment and on the other the tax payer must substantiate an exemption or deduction alleged. To the contrary tax laws in Denmark, France and Finland locate the burden of proving the accuracy of the tax decisions made according to estimation on the tax authority.  Similarly in Hungary the tax authority is obliged to prove the bad faith of the tax payer when prohibiting the deduction on VAT. This shows that there are possibilities where by tax authorities could bear the burden of proof in tax disputes.

Part of the Ethiopian government’s actions to reduce Covid-19’s effect on the economy is the recently issued directive to remit tax liabilities of taxpayers number 64/2020 (the “Directive”). This directive was issued by the Ministry of Finance pursuant to the mandate bestowed to it by the Federal Tax Administration Proclamation Number 983/2016. The purpose of the directive is to reduce the damage caused by Covid-19 on taxpayers. And, the tax liabilities subject to remission are tax liabilities of before and during 2018.

በዚህ ጽሑፍ ስለ ግብር ስወራ ምንነት፣ በተለያዩ የግብር ዓይነቶች ሥር የግብር ስወራ ስለሚያቋቋሙ ድርጊቶች፣ ለግብር ስወራ መነሻ ሊሆኑ ስለሚችሉ ምክንያቶች እንዲሁም የመከላከያ መንገዶቹ ለመዳሰስ እሞክራለሁ፡፡ ይህንን ጽሑፍ ለመጻፍ መነሻ የሆነኝ የፌደራል መጀመሪያ ደረጃ ፍርድ ቤት የጉምሩክና ታክስ ወንጀል ችሎት ዳኛ ሆኜ ስሠራ በነበርኩበት ጊዜ የኢትዮጵያ ገቢዎችና ጉምሩክ ባለሥልጣን ለግብር ስወራ የወንጀል ክሶች ለማስረዳት ሲያቀርባቸው በነበሩ የታክስ ኦዲቶች ላይ የሚጠቀሱ ግኝቶች ናቸው፡፡ የተለያዩ የግብር ስወራ ወንጀሎች ፈጽመዋል በማለት ተከሰው በፍርድ ቤት ሲቀርቡ ለነበሩ ተከሳሾች ይቀርብ የነበረው ማስረጃ፣ በታክስ ኦዲተሮች የሚሠራ የታክስ ኦዲት ግኝቶች ዝርዝር የሚገልጽ የጽሑፍ ማስረጃ እንዲሁም ይህንኑ የታክስ ኦዲት የሠሩ ባለሙያዎች በሙያ ምስክርነት ቀርበው የሚሰጡት የምስክርነት ቃል በዋናነት የሚጠቀሱ ናቸው፡፡

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.

Income tax is a tax levied on a person’s income from various sources. It is a direct tax in that it is demanded from the very persons who, 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.