On 9 September 2024, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled in favour of Coca-Cola Indian Ocean Islands Ltd (Coca-Cola) and directed the Assessment Review Committee (ARC) to proceed with the hearing (2024 SCJ 422).
Coca-Cola appealed against a ruling of the ARC setting aside its representations on the ground of vagueness.
When making representations to the ARC, a taxpayer has to fill in a standard form. The ARC’s qualms about Coca-Cola was that it wrote the words “See attached” on the form, in the space provided for “Precise Reasons for Representations” without referring to any specifically marked document. The ARC determined that it was not its task to sift through all the attached documents in search for precise reasons for representations. After perusal of the annexed papers, the ARC ruled that the reasons as spelt out by Coca-Cola were too vague to deserve any further consideration.
The SC considered that the issues to be determined by the ARC can be gleaned from the grounds of representations. The SC therefore held that there was no justification for the ARC to have resorted to the extreme measure of preventing Coca-Cola from pursuing its case altogether. The case has been referred to the ARC to hear the representations either as presently drafted or redrafted, if considered necessary.
Our Comment:
While it is admitted that grounds of representations must be precise and concise, we welcome the SC’s fair mindedness in allowing Coca-Cola to pursue its case at the ARC level. The pertinent question is whether the issue of vagueness should have been canvassed in the first place. Afterall, justice delayed is justice denied!
