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Income Tax (Administration) Act 1974

SAMOA

INCOME TAX (ADMINISTRATION) ACT 1974

Arrangement of Provisions

PART I
PRELIMINARY

1. Short Title, etc.
2. Interpretation
   

PART II
INLAND REVENUE
DEPARTMENT

3. Inland Revenue Department
4. Commissioner of Inland Revenue
5. Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue
6. Appointment of other staff
7. Delegation by Commissioner
8. Members to maintain secrecy
9. Power to inspect books and documents
10. Information to be furnished on request of Commissioner
11. Inquiry before a Judge
12. Inquiry by Commissioner
13. Seal and authentication of documents
14. Annual report
    

PART III
RETURNS AND ASSESSMENTS

Division 1

Returns

15. Annual returns
16. Returns to annual balance date
17. Consequential adjustments on change in return date
18. Returns by persons jointly
19. Returns by executors or administrators
20. Special returns and assessments
21. Other annual returns
22. Dates by which annual returns to be furnished
23. Other returns to be made
24. Presumption as to authority
    

Division 2

Assessments

25. Commissioner to make assessments
26. Amendment of assessment
27. Limitation of time for amendment of assessment

27A.Correction of salary and wage tax assessments

28. Notice of assessment
29. Validity of assessment
30. Conclusiveness of assessment
31. Evidence of returns and assessments
    

PART IV
OBJECTIONS

32. Objections to assessments
33. Commissioner to consider objections
34. Objection may be submitted to Supreme Court
35. Obligation to pay tax not suspended by objection
36. Determination of objection not to affect other income
37. Objections to which this Part does not apply
    

PART V
COLLECTION: SOURCE
DEDUCTION PAYMENTS

38. Application of this Part
    

Division 1

Tax Deductions

38A. Division 1 not applicable to Salary & Wage income derived after 1st January 1990

39. Tax deductions to be made by employers
40. When emoluments deemed to accrue and be paid or received
41. Amount of emolument where ordinary payments to a superannuation fund are made
42. Payment to be made by resident employee where tax deduction exceeds source deduction payment
43. Making of tax deductions from source deduction payments to non-residents
44. Tax deductions from dividends to non-residents not paid in money
45. Amounts of tax deduction
46. Repealed
47. Repealed.
48. Amount of total tax deduction from emoluments where several deductions are made for 1 week
49. Increased deductions to cover deficiency in deductions from advance payments
50. Power of Commissioner to grant relief from or vary amount of deductions
51. Repealed.
    

Division 1A

Deductions of Salary & Wage Tax

51A. Division 1A application to Salary & Wage income derived after 1st January 1990

51B. Deductions to be made by employers

51C. When salary and wage income deemed to accrue and be paid or received

51D. Payment to be made by resident employee where tax deduction exceeds source deduction payment

51E Making of tax deductions from source deduction payments to non-residents

51F. Amounts of tax deduction

51G Repealed.

51H Repealed.

51I. Amount of total salary and wage tax deduction from salary and wage income where several deductions are made for fortnight

51J. Increased deductions to cover deficiency in deductions from advance payments

51K Power of Commissioner to grant relief from or vary amount of deductions

51L. Repealed.

51M Variation to effect refunds

51N. Transitional provision for exemptions

Division 2
Duties of Employers and Employees

52. Records to be kept by employer
53. Payment of salary and wage tax deductions to Commissioner
54. Requirement to register
55. Employee to pay deductions to Commissioner
    

Division 3
Pay Period Taxpayers

56. Interpretation
57. Repealed.

57A Repealed.

57B Procedure when Commissioner requires return of salary and wage income to be furnished

58. Income tax payable by pay period taxpayers
    

Division 4
Crediting Tax Deductions

59. Tax deductions to be credited against tax assessed
60. Lost tax deduction certificates
61. Tax deductions for which no certificates issued
    

Division 5
Recovery of Tax Deductions

62. Amounts deducted to be held in trust for Government
63. Employer failing to make deductions
64. Unpaid tax deductions, etc., to constitute a charge on employer's property
    

Division 6
Miscellaneous Provisions

65. Agreements not to make deduction to be void
66. Amount of tax deductions deemed to be received by employee
    

PART VI
COLLECTION

Provisional Tax

67. Application of this Part
68. Provisional taxpayers
69. Amount of provisional tax
70. When provisional tax payable
71. Additional tax where provisional tax under-estimated
72. Special circumstances
73. Voluntary payments of additional provisional tax
74. Interim returns

74A Transitional provisions for payment of income tax by companies

75. Provisional tax to be credited against tax assessed
76. Application of Act to provisional tax
    

PART VII
PAYMENT AND RECOVERY OF
TAX

77. Due date for payment of tax
78. Extension of time for payment
79. Place of payment of tax
80. Additional tax for default in payment

80A. Additional tax for default in making tax deduction or in paying any amount due to the Commissioner

81. Fee on late filing of return

81A Directors liable when company in default

82. Mode of recovery of unpaid tax
83. Deduction of income tax from payment due to defaulters
84. Income tax charged on property of taxpayer
85. No limitation of action to recover tax or salary and wage tax
86. Procedure in District Court where defendant absent from Samoa or not traced
87. Particulars of claim or demand
88. Commissioner may appear in legal proceedings by officer of the Public Service
89. Costs for or against Commissioner
90. Proceedings not affected by vacancy or change in office of Commissioner
91. Government Proceedings Act not affected
92. Recovery of tax or salary and wage tax paid by one person on behalf of another
    

PART VIII
CREDITS FOR FOREIGN TAX

93. Interpretation
94. Determination of claims for credits
95. Notice of determination to taxpayer
96. Determinations: conclusiveness, evidence, and objections
97. Information for credit to be furnished within 4 years
98. Maximum credits
99. Recovery of excess credit allowed through not taking into account refund of foreign tax
100. Ascertainment of Samoa tax on income
     

PART IX
REFUNDS AND RELIEF FROM TAX

100AMeaning of “tax” in this Part

101. Refunds of excess tax

102.Power of Commissioner in respect of small amounts

103. Relief from additional tax

104. Relief in cases of serious hardship

105Appropriation of refunds

PART X
PENALTIES

Division 1
Prosecutions

106.Offences and penalties

107. When deduction deemed to be made and wrongly applied
108. Proceedings for offences
109. Information may be laid within 10 years

110. Evidence of failure to furnish a return

Division 2
Penal Tax

111.Penal tax in case of evasion or default

111APenal tax in the case of negligence

112.Nature of penal tax

113.Assessment of penal tax

114.Objections to penal tax

115.Recovery of penal tax

116.Recovery of penal tax from executors or administrators

117. Recovery of penal tax not affected by conviction of taxpayer
     

Division 3
Publicity

118.Publication of names of tax offenders

PART XI
GENERAL

119.Keeping of business records

120.Return of interest paid on deposits

121. Returns as to debentures and interest thereon

122.Regulations

123.Service of notices

124.Extending time for doing anything under Acts

125.Repeals and savings

Schedules

INCOME TAX ADMINISTRATION ACT 1974

1974 No.14

AN ACT to consolidate and amend the law relating to the administration of income tax.

[Assent date:30 December 1974]
[Commencement date: 1January 1975]

PART I
PRELIMINARY

1. Short Title, etc.-(1) This Act may be cited as the Income Tax Administration Act 1974.
(2) This Act comes into force on 1January 1975 and except as otherwise provided it shall apply with respect to tax for the income year commencing on that date and for every subsequent year.

2. Interpretation -(1) In the Inland Revenue Acts (including this Act), unless the context otherwise requires:

“book and document” and “book or document” includes all books, accounts, rolls, records, registers, papers, and other documents;

“Commissioner of Inland Revenue” or “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Inland Revenue appointed under this Act; and includes any person authorised to exercise or perform any of the powers or functions of the Commissioner;

“company” means any body corporate, whether incorporated in Samoa or elsewhere, but does not include a local or public

“Department” means the Inland Revenue Department;

“Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue” or “Deputy Commissioner” means the Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue appointed under this Act; and includes any person authorised to exercise or perform any of the powers or functions of the Deputy Commissioner;

“Inland Revenue Acts”means the Acts specified in Schedule 1;

“local authority” means any body corporate possessing rating powers or other incorporated instrument of local government in Samoa, whether possessing rating powers or not;

“members of the Department” or “Members” means an officer or employee of the Inland Revenue Department;

“Minister” means the Minister of Finance;

“notice” means a notice in writing;

“person” includes a company and a local or public authority and also an unincorporated body of persons;

“prescribed” means prescribed by this Act, by regulations under this Act or by the Commissioner;

“public authority” means the Public Trustee and every other Department or instrument of the Executive Government of Samoa;

“share” in reference to a company, includes any interest in the capital of a company;

“shareholder” includes any member of a company whether or not the capital of that company is divided into shares;

“trustee” includes an executor or administrator and also includes the Public Trustee.
(2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

“assessment” means the ascertainment of the amount of taxable income and of the tax payable thereon;

“employee” in relation only to source deduction payments, means any person who has been paid a source deduction payment;

“employer” in relation only to source deduction payments, means any person who makes any source deduction payment in any manner whatsoever;

“employment” in relation only to source deduction payments, means the relationship subsisting between an employer and employee, both as defined in this Act;

“gross” in relation to an amount, means without any deduction whatsoever from that amount;

“income year” means in respect of the income of any person the year in which that income has been derived by the person;

“Income Tax Act” means the Income Tax Act 1974;

“natural person” means a human being; but excludes a human being acting in the capacity of trustee;

“net” in relation to an amount, means the amount remaining after all deductions whatsoever have been made from that amount;

“paid” in relation to source deduction payments or salary and wage income payments, means source deduction payments or salary and wage income payments that have been paid or accrued or received or that are receivable in cash or otherwise and includes all source deduction payments or salary and wage income payments not actually paid, but distributed, transferred, or credited to or applied on account of any person entitled thereto or dealt with in the interest of or on behalf of a person; and "pay" and "payment" have corresponding meanings;

“pay period” in relation to any employee receiving regular payments or any emolument, means the period for which such payment is made or payable;

“reduced deduction” means any deduction to be made from any source deduction payment or salary and wage income payment to an employee by an employer to whom any tax code declaration or special tax code certificate has been delivered by or on behalf of that employee;

“Revenue Board” means the National Board established pursuant to the Public Finance Management Act 2001;

“secondary income” in relation to emoluments or salary and wage income, means any emolument or salary and wage income in respect of which an employee is not entitled to deliver up to his or her employer or maintain a tax code declaration;

“source deduction payment” means any of the payments named or described in Schedule 3;

“tax deduction” means tax that is required to be deducted and withheld from source deduction payments under this Act;

“year” means a year commencing on 1 January and ending on 31 December, both dates inclusive.

“year of assessment” means the year for which income tax is payable.
(3) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms have the meaning given to them in the Income Tax Act:

“Agent”

“Assessable income”;

“Debenture”;

“Emoluments”;

“Fortnight”;

Income tax”;

“Non-resident";

“Non-resident trader”;

“Resident”;

“Superannuation fund”;

“Tax”;

“Taxable income”;

“Taxpayer”

PART II
INLAND REVENUE DEPARTMENT

3. Inland Revenue Department -There shall continue to be a department of State to be called the Inland Revenue Department.

4. Commissioner of Inland Revenue -(1) There shall be appointed a Commissioner of Inland Revenue, who shall, subject to the control of the Minister, be the permanent head of the department and shall be charged with the administration of the Inland Revenue Acts and with such other functions as may be lawfully conferred upon him or her.
(2) The person who at the commencement of the Act holds office as Commissioner of Inland Revenue is taken to have been appointed to be the Commissioner of Inland Revenue under this Act.

5. Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue -(1) There may be appointed a Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue who shall, under the control of the Commissioner, perform such general official duties as he or she is called upon to perform under the Inland Revenue Acts or by the Commissioner.
(2) On the occurrence from any cause of a vacancy in the office of Commissioner (whether by reason of death, resignation, or otherwise), and in the case of absence from duty of the Commissioner (from whatever cause arising), and so long as any such vacancy or absence continues, the Deputy Commissioner has and may exercise all the powers, duties, and functions of the Commissioner, and in the event of a vacancy in the office of Deputy Commissioner or absence from duty of the Deputy Commissioner some other fit and proper person shall be appointed to have and to exercise all the powers, duties, and functions of the Commissioner.
(3) The fact that the Deputy Commissioner or such other person exercise any power, duty, or function of the Commissioner shall be conclusive evidence of his or her authority to do so.

6. Appointment of other staff -(1) There shall be appointed such other officers and employees as may be found necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Inland Revenue Acts.
(2) The persons who at the commencement of the Act are officers or employees of the Inland Revenue Department are deemed to have been appointed as officers or employees of the Department, as the case may be, under this Act.

7. Delegation by Commissioner – (1) The Commissioner may, either generally or particularly, by writing under his or her hand delegate to such member or members of the Department or to the holder or holders of a specified office or class of office as he or she thinks fit all or any of the powers and functions of the Commissioner, except this power of delegation.
(2) Subject to any general or special conditions imposed by the Commissioner a delegate may exercise the powers and perform the functions in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been conferred on the Commissioner directly by this section and not by delegation.
(3) Every person purporting to act pursuant to any delegation under this section shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to be acting under the terms of the delegation.
(4) In the event of the Commissioner by whom any such delegation is made ceasing to hold office, it shall continue to have effect as if made by the person holding office as Commissioner.
(5) A delegation under this section is revocable at will, and no such delegation shall prevent the exercise of any power or the performance of any function by the Commissioner.

8. Members to maintain secrecy -(1) A member of the Department:

(a) shall maintain and aid in maintaining the secrecy of all matters relating to the Inland Revenue Acts which come to his or her knowledge and shall not communicate any such matters to any person, except for the purpose of carrying into effect the Inland Revenue Acts or any other enactment imposing taxes or duties payable to the Government; and

(b) shall, before he or she begins to perform any official duty under this Act, take and subscribe an oath of fidelity and secrecy to maintain secrecy in conformity with this section.
(2) Without limiting the generality of section 8(1)(a), no member of the Department is required to produce in any Court any book or document or to divulge or communicate to any Court any matter or thing coming under his or her notice in the performance of his or her duties as a member of the Department, except when it is necessary to do so for the purpose of carrying into effect any provision of the Inland Revenue Acts or any other enactment imposing taxes or duties payable to the Government.
(3) Nothing in this section prevents the disclosure to a taxpayer or, with his or her written consent, to any other person of:

(a) a document submitted to the Commissioner by or on behalf of the taxpayer;

(b) an assessment made upon the taxpayer; or

(c) the amount of income tax paid or due by the taxpayer.
(4) Nothing in this section prevents the disclosure to any officer of the Department of Statistics of any information if:

(a) it is required for the purposes of the Statistics Act 1971; and

(b) the disclosure of the information in the opinion of the Commissioner will not unduly impede the administration of the Inland Revenue Acts.
(5) A person who wilfully acts in contravention of any provision of this section commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding 2 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both.

9. Power to inspect books and documents - (1) Despite anything in any other Act, the Commissioner or any member of the Department authorised in writing by the Commissioner in that behalf shall at all times have full and free access to all lands, buildings and places and all books and documents, whether in the custody or under the control of a public officer or a body corporate or any other person whomsoever, for the purpose of inspecting any books and documents which the Commissioner or member of the Department considers necessary or relevant for the purpose of collecting any tax or duty under any of the Inland Revenue Acts, or considers likely to provide any information otherwise required for any such purpose, and may, without fee or reward, make extracts from or copies of any such books and documents.
(2) The Commissioner or any member of the Department authorised in writing by the Commissioner in that behalf, may for the purpose of any investigation under this section require the owner or manager of any property or business to give him or her all reasonable assistance in the investigation, and to answer all proper questions relating to any such investigation either orally, or if the Commissioner or member of the Department so requires, in writing, or by statutory declaration, and for that purpose may require the owner or manager, or, in the case of a company, any officer of the company to attend at the premises with the Commissioner or any member of the Department authorised in writing by the Commissioner in that behalf.
(3) The Commissioner or any member of the Department authorised in writing by the Commissioner in that behalf may take possession of any document where he or she considers that:

(a) the inspection, copying or making of an extract of the document cannot reasonably be performed without taking possession; or

(b) the document may be interfered with or destroyed if possession is not taken of it.
(4) Before exercising any of his or her powers under this section, a member of the Department (other than the Commissioner) shall, if required to do so, produce for inspection the written authorisation given to him or her by the Commissioner for the purposes of this section.

10. Information to be furnished on request of Commissioner - (1) A person (including any officer or employee employed in or in connection with any Department of the Government or by any public authority, and any other public officer) shall, if required by the Commissioner or by any member of the Department authorised by the Commissioner in that behalf, furnish in writing any information and produce any books and documents which the Commissioner or member of the Department considers necessary or relevant for any purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of the Inland Revenue Acts, and which may be in the knowledge, possession, or control of that person.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the information in writing which may be required under this section shall include lists of shareholders of companies, with the amount of capital contributed by and dividends paid to each shareholder, copies of balance sheets and of profit and loss accounts, and other accounts and statements of assets and liabilities of any person.
(3) The Commissioner or any member of the Department authorised by the Commissioner in that behalf may require that any written information or particulars furnished under this section shall be verified by statutory declaration or otherwise.

11. Inquiry before a Judge-(1) In any case in which the Commissioner deems it necessary to hold an inquiry for the purpose of obtaining any information with respect to the liability of any person for any tax or duty which under any of the Inland Revenue Acts the Commissioner is authorised to collect or any other information required for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of any of those Acts, he or she may apply in writing to a Judge of the Supreme Court to hold an inquiry under this section.
(2) For the purposes of any such inquiry, the Judge of the Supreme Court may summon before him or herand examine on oath touching any matter which is relevant to the subject-matter of the inquiry, all persons whom the Commissioner or any other person interested requires to be so called and examined.
(3) The Judge of the Supreme Court has all such jurisdiction and authority touching the summoning and examination of any such person as he or she would have in respect of a witness in a civil action within his or her ordinary jurisdiction, and the person so summoned and examined shall, subject to this Act, have all such rights and be subject to all such liabilities as he or she would have and be subject to if he or she were such a witness as aforesaid.
(4) The Commissioner and every person who is interested in the subject matter of the inquiry may be represented by a barrister or solicitor, or, with the leave of the Judge, by any other person, who may examine, cross-examine, and re-examine, in accordance with the ordinary practice, any person so summoned:
PROVIDED THAT a person so summoned may be cross-examined by the Commissioner or by the barrister or solicitor or other person representing the Commissioner.
(5) An examination under this section shall take place in Chambers.
(6) The statement of every person so examined shall be taken down in writing, and signed by him or herin the presence of the Judge of the Supreme Court, and delivered to the Commissioner, and shall not form part of the records of the Court.
(7) No person summoned or examined under this section is excused from answering any question on the ground that the answer may incriminate the person or render the person liable to any penalty or forfeiture.
(8) No statement made by any such person in answer to any question put to the person shall in criminal proceedings be admissible in evidence against the person, except upon a charge of perjury against the person in respect of his or her testimony upon that examination.
(9) A person summoned under this section may receive such sum on account of travelling expenses and loss of time as the Judge of the Supreme Court thinks reasonable and orders accordingly.

12. Inquiry by Commissioner -(1) The Commissioner may, for the purpose of obtaining any information with respect to the liability of any person for any tax or duty under any of the Inland Revenue Acts or any other information required for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of any of those Acts, by notice in writing, require any person to attend and give evidence before the Commissioner or before any member of the Department authorised by the Commissioner in that behalf and to produce all books and documents in the custody or under the control of that person which contain or which the Commissioner or the authorised member considers likely to contain any such information.
(2) The Commissioner may require any such evidence to be given on oath and either orally or in writing, and for that purpose he or she or the member authorised as aforesaid may administer an oath.
(3) If any person required to give evidence under this section refuses or wilfully neglects to appear before the Commissioner or authorised member or to take an oath as witness or if any person being sworn as a witness at any such inquiry refuses or wilfully neglects to answer any question put to him or her touching the subject-matter of the inquiry or to produce to the Commissioner or authorised member any such document as aforesaid, that person is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 2 penalty units.
(4) A person who wilfully gives false evidence at any inquiry under this section commits perjury within the meaning of the Crimes Ordinance 1961.
(5) A person required to attend before the Commissioner or an authorised member may receive such sum on account of travelling expenses and loss of time as the Commissioner thinks reasonable and orders accordingly.

13. Seal and authentication of documents -(1) There shall be an official seal of the Inland Revenue Department, which shall be in the custody of the Commissioner.
(2) A certificate, notice, or other document bearing the written, stamped, or printed signature of the Commissioner is, until the contrary is proved, deemed to have been duly signed by the person by whom it purports to have been signed.
(3) Judicial notice shall be taken of every such signature and of the fact that the person whose signature it purports to be holds or has held the office of Commissioner.

14. Annual report -(1) The Commissioner shall as soon as practicable after 31 December in each year furnish to the Minister a report on the administration of the Inland Revenue Acts for the year ending on that date.
(2) A copy of the report shall be laid before the Legislative Assembly within 28 days after it has been furnished to the Minister if the Legislative Assembly is then in session and if not within 28 days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

PART III
RETURNS AND ASSESSMENTS
Division 1
Returns

15. Annual returns - (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any regulations under this Act, every taxpayer shall for the purposes of the assessment of income tax furnish to the Commissioner in each year a return or returns in the prescribed form or forms setting forth a complete statement of all income derived by him or her during the preceding year, together with such other particulars as may be prescribed:
PROVIDED however that a taxpayer whose only income is salary and wage income shall not be required to furnish a return pursuant to this subsection unless required by the Commissioner so to do.
(2) Every company and every person engaging in business during the income year whether or not a taxpayer shall furnish to the Commissioner in each year a return in the prescribed form setting forth a complete statement of all income derived during the preceding year, together with such other particulars as may be prescribed.

16. Returns to annual balance date -(1) Instead of furnishing a return in accordance with the provisions of section 15 for any year ending with the 31st day of December, any person required to furnish a return may, with the consent of the Commissioner, elect to furnish a return for the year ending with the date of the annual balance of his or her accounts, and in any such case the income derived during that year shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to have been derived during the year ending with 31st day of December nearest to that date.
(2) For the purposes of this section and of section 17 30 June in any year is deemed to be nearer to the last preceding 31 December than to the next succeeding 3 December.
(3) An election made by a person for the purposes of this section shall continue in force unless and until it is altered by the person with the prior approval in writing of the Commissioner.

17. Consequential adjustments on change in return date -(1) In this section:

“the return date” means the last day of the period for which a return of income is required to be made;

“the original return date”means, in the case of a person who has changed his or her return date, whether before or after the passing of this Act, the return date immediately prior to the new return date;

“the new return date” means, in the case of a person who has changed his or her return date, whether before or after the passing of this Act, the date to which the change was made or, if he or she has made more than one change, means the date to which the last change was made.
(2) If in any case the new return date is an earlier date than the original return date, a return shall be furnished for the period from the original return date up to and including the new return date in the succeeding year, and if the new return date is a later date than the original return date, a return shall be furnished for the period from the original return date up to and including the new return date in the same year. For the purposes of this subsection, one date is earlier than another if it is earlier in the year despite that it may not be earlier in the year ending on the annual balance date.
(3) All returns of income in accordance with subsection (2) of this section are taken to be returns of income derived during the year ending with 31 December nearest to the new return date, and the income derived by any person during that period shall, for the purposes of assessment, be added to any other income derived for the same year, and he or she shall be assessed and liable for income tax accordingly.
(4) Where, for the purposes of this section, a taxpayer is assessed for income tax on a return made for a period of less than 1 year, he or she is entitled, by way of special exemptions, only to an amount bearing to the total exemption to which he or she would be entitled for a full year the same proportion as the number of days in that period bears to the number of days in a year; and where a taxpayer is assessed on a return for a period of more than 1 year, the deduction to which he or she is entitled by way of special exemption shall be proportionately increased.
(5) Where, for the purposes of this section, a taxpayer is assessed for income tax on a return made for a period that is less or greater than 1 year, the rate of tax shall be determined as for a year, and for the purposes of this subsection the taxable income of a taxpayer shall be deemed to have been derived at a uniform daily rate throughout the period for which the return has been made and where that period is less than 1 year that daily rate shall be deemed to have continued for a year.
(6) Where a taxpayer has been assessed for income tax on a return made to any date other than 31December in any year, the income derived by that taxpayer shall be deemed to have been assessed for tax to that date, and not to 31December nearest to that date.

18. Returns by persons jointly -When income is derived by 2 or more persons jointly as partners, co-trustees, or otherwise the following provisions shall apply:

(a) in the case of trustees, they shall make a return of that income, and shall be jointly assessable thereon and jointly and severally liable for the tax so assessed;

(b) in the case of partners:

(i) they shall make a joint return of the income of the partnership, setting forth the amount of that income and the shares of the several partners therein;

(ii) each partner shall make a separate return of all income derived by him or her and not included in any such joint return;

(iii) there shall be no joint assessment but each partner shall be separately assessed and liable for the tax payable on his or her total income, including his or her share of the income of any partnership in which he or she is a partner.;

(c) in the case of joint venture, paragraph (b) applies as if the references were to joint venture and joint venturer;

(d) in any case other than that of co-trustees or partners, or joint venturers each person by whom income is so derived shall include in his or her return the amount of his or her share in the joint income, and shall be assessed and liable accordingly.

19. Returns by executors or administrators -(1) The executor or administrator of a deceased taxpayer shall in respect of all income derived by that taxpayer in his or her lifetime make the same returns as the taxpayer ought to have made or would have been bound to make if he or she had remained alive; and the Commissioner may require the executor or administrator to make such further returns relative to that income as the Commissioner thinks necessary, and may assess the executor of administrator for income tax on that income in the same manner in which the taxpayer might have been assessed had he or she remained alive.
(2) The tax so assessed shall be deemed to be a liability incurred by the deceased taxpayer in his or her lifetime, and the executor or administrator of the taxpayer shall be liable for the same accordingly.

20. Special returns and assessments -(1) This section applies to the following persons:

(a) an agent;

(b) a non-resident trader;

(c) a person who is believed by the Commissioner to be about to leave Samoa or to be about to discontinue the carrying on of business in Samoa;

(d) a person who has ceased to carry on business in Western Samoa or to derive assessable income;

(e) the executors or administrators of a deceased taxpayer in respect of income derived by him or her in his or her lifetime;

(f) a person who has become bankrupt, or a company which is in course of being wound up.
(2) The Commissioner may, if he or she thinks fit, at any time during the income year or in any subsequent year, require any person to whom this section applies to make a return of income derived from any specified transaction or transactions or during any specific period, and may assess him or her for income tax on the income so returned, or when default is made in making such a return, or the Commissioner is dissatisfied therewith, then on such sum as the Commissioner thinks reasonable, and shall give notice of the assessment to the person so assessed.
(3) A person so assessed has the same right of objection as if he or she had been assessed in the ordinary course.
(4) Tax so assessed shall be payable on demand, which may be made in and by the notice of assessment, or at any later date, and the tax shall be recoverable in the same manner as income tax assessed in the ordinary course.
(5) No assessment made under this section shall in any manner preclude a subsequent assessment of the same person in the ordinary course in respect of the whole of the income derived by him or her during the income year with respect to which the assessment under this section was made, but in such case the tax paid under the earlier assessment shall be credited in the subsequent assessment.

21. Other annual returns - In addition to the foregoing returns every person, whether a taxpayer or not, shall make to the Commissioner such annual returns as may be prescribed for the purposes of this Act.

22. Dates by which annual returns to be furnished - (1) The annual return of income required under this Act to be furnished in any year by any taxpayer in respect of all income derived by him or her in the preceding year shall be furnished to the Commissioner not later than 31 March in that first mentioned year, where:

(a) the taxpayer is not authorised to furnish the return under section 16 for a year ending with a balance date other than 31 December in the preceding year; and

(b) the taxpayer did not derive in the preceding year any assessable income other than:

(i) income from employment; or

(ii) rents or interest or dividends not exceeding in the aggregate $100.
(2) The annual return of income required under this Act to be furnished in any year by any person to whom subsection (1) does not apply shall be furnished to the Commissioner in that year not later than the date specified in Schedule 2.
(3) Where the income of a taxpayer for the last preceding year consisted exclusively or principally of income derived otherwise than from emoluments, and the taxpayer satisfies the Commissioner that he or she is unable to furnish the required return within one month from the due date therefor, the Commissioner, upon application in that behalf made in writing by or on behalf of the taxpayer on or before that due date or within such further period as the Commissioner in his or her discretion may allow in any case or class of cases, may extend the time for furnishing the required return to such date as he or she in his or her discretion thinks proper in the circumstances:
PROVIDED THAT the Commissioner shall not extend the time for the furnishing of the required return unless the taxpayer, where applicable, has complied with the provisions of section 74(2).
(4) Any other annual return of income required under this Act shall be made on or before a date or dates of which the Commissioner gives public notice in such manner as he or she thinks fit.

23. Other returns to be made - In addition to the foregoing returns every person, whether a taxpayer or not, shall, as an when required by the Commissioner, make such further or fuller or other returns as the Commissioner requires for the purposes of assessment of income tax.

24. Presumption as to authority - A return purporting to be made by or on behalf of any person is for all purposes taken to have been made by that person or by his or her authority, as the case may be, unless the contrary is proved.

Division 2
Assessments

25. Commissioner to make assessments -(1) From the information in his or her possession the Commissioner shall in and for every year and at any time as may be necessary, make assessments of the amount of the taxable income of every taxpayer and of the tax payable thereon.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1) if:

(a) any person makes default in furnishing a return; or

(b) the Commissioner is not satisfied with the return made by any person; or

(c) the Commissioner has reason to believe that any person who has not furnished a return is a taxpayer,-
the Commissioner may make an assessment of the amount on which in his or her judgment tax ought to be payable and that amount shall be the taxable income of that person for the purpose of the preceding subsection.
(3) Where any person is liable to pay tax under any provisions of the Inland Revenue Acts the Commissioner may,as may be necessary make an assessment of the amount of such tax.
(4) For the purposes of this Act, a deduction of salary and wage tax in accordance with the Inland Revenue Acts from salary and wage income is deemed to be an assessment of salary and wage tax.

26. Amendment of assessment -(1) Subject to section 27, the Commissioner may and at any time amend any assessment by making all such alterations or additions to an assessment as he or she thinks necessary in order to ensure its correctness, notwithstanding that tax already assessed may have been paid.
(2) If for any year of assessment the rates of tax as set out in the Income Tax Rate Act are varied by the passing of a new or amending Income Tax Rate Act the amount of every assessment of income tax made in respect of that year before the coming into force of any such new or amending Income Tax Rate Act shall be deemed to be increased or reduced accordingly, and every such assessment has the same effect as if the amount thereof as so increased or reduced had been specified therein.

27. Limitation of time for amendment of assessment-(1) When any person has made a return and has been assessed for income tax for any year, it shall not be lawful for the Commissioner to amend the assessment so as to increase the amount of tax payable after the expiration of 4 years from the end of the year in which the assessment was made.
(2) Despite subsection (1), in any case where in the opinion of the Commissioner the return so made is fraudulent or wilfully misleading or omits all mention of income which is of a particular nature or was derived from a particular source and in respect of which a return is required to be made, it shall be lawful for the Commissioner to amend the assessment at any time so as to increase the amount of tax payable.

27A. Correction of salary and wage tax assessments -Despite sections 26 and 27, the Commissioner may at any time amend an assessment deemed to have been made pursuant to section 25(4) to give effect to the correct salary and wage tax payable.

28. Notice of assessment -(1) As soon as conveniently may be after an assessment is made the Commissioner shall cause notice of the assessment to be given to the taxpayer:
PROVIDED THAT where:

(a) in the return to which the assessment relates the taxpayer has calculated the amount on which tax is payable or the amount of the tax; or

(b) a separate statement in relation to the assessment is given to the taxpayer setting out the amount on which tax is payable and the amount of the tax,-
it is not necessary to set out in the notice of assessment any particulars other than particulars as to the amount of tax to be paid by the taxpayer or the amount of tax to be refunded as the case may be.
(2) If any amendment of an assessment has the effect of imposing any fresh liability or increasing any existing liability, the Commissioner shall cause notice thereof to be given to the taxpayer.
(3) Where salary and wage tax has been deemed to be assessed pursuant to section25(4), notice of assessment shall be deemed to have been given in respect of that assessment.

29. Validity of assessment -The validity of an assessment or notice or other document made or used under the Inland Revenue Acts shall not be affected:

(a) by any failure to comply with any provision of the Inland Revenue Acts; or

(b) by any mistake or omission as to:

(i)the name or address of any person;

(ii)the description of any income or other item;

(iii)the amount of tax assessed; or

(c) by any variance between the assessment and the notice of assessment,-
if the person intended to be assessed or affected is sufficiently designated and the failure, mistake, omission, or variance is not likely to deceive or mislead that person.

30. Conclusiveness of assessment -Except in proceedings on objection to an assessment under Part IV no assessment made by the Commissioner shall be disputed in any Court or in any proceedings either on the ground that the person so assessed is not a taxpayer or on any other ground; and except as aforesaid every assessment and all the particulars thereof shall be conclusively deemed and taken to be correct and the liability of the person so assessed shall be determined accordingly.
31. Evidence of returns and assessments -The production of any document under the hand of the Commissioner purporting to be a copy of or extract from any return or assessment shall in all Courts and in all proceedings be sufficient evidence of the original, and the production of the original shall not be necessary, and all Courts shall in all proceedings take judicial notice of the signature of the Commissioner either to the original or to any such copy or extract.

PART IV
OBJECTIONS

32. Objections to assessments -(1) Subject to section 37, any person who has been assessed for income tax may object to that assessment by delivering or posting to the Commissioner a written notice of objection stating shortly the grounds of objection so that it reaches the Commissioner within the time specified in that behalf in the notice of assessment, not being less than 1 month after the date on which that notice of assessment is given:
PROVIDED THAT no taxpayer shall be entitled to lodge an objection to any assessment unless he or she has first furnished to the Commissioner in accordance with Division 1 of Part III a return or returns of his or her income in respect of the income year to which that assessment applies.
(2) No notice of objection given after the time so specified shall be of any force or effect unless the Commissioner in his or her discretion accepts the same and gives notice to the objector accordingly.
(3) Where a taxpayer within the period provided for in subsection (1) lodges an application for a refund of salary and wage tax that application shall be deemed to be an objection.

33. Commissioner to consider objections -(1) The Commissioner shall consider the objection and either disallow or allow it wholly or in part and where appropriate amend the assessment to conform with his or her determination.
(2) Following determination by him or her of the objection the Commissioner shall cause notice thereof to be given to the objector.

34. Objection may be submitted to Supreme Court -(1) If the objector is dissatisfied with the determination by the Commissioner (under section 33) of any objection under section 32 , he or she may within 2 months after the date on which notice of the determination is given to him or her, by notice in writing to the Commissioner require him or her to state a case for the opinion of the Supreme Court.
(2) The Commissioner shall within the time allowed by subsection (9) state a case accordingly setting forth the fact as alleged by the Commissioner, the contentions of the parties and the question to be decided, and shall file it in the Supreme Court. At any time the Commissioner may file an amended case. A copy of the case and any amended case shall be served on the objector.
(3) Within 1month after the copy of the case is served on the objector, or within such further time as the Commissioner or the Supreme Court may allow, the objector may, if he or she thinks fit, file an answer to the case, setting forth the facts as alleged by the objector. The objector shall serve a copy of his or her answer on the Commissioner.
(4) Neither the case as stated and filed by the Commissioner nor any answer filed by the objector shall be conclusive as to the matters set forth therein, either against the objector or the Commissioner, except so far as agreed to in writing by or on behalf of the Commissioner and the objector.
(5) On the hearing and determination of the objection, the objector shall be limited to the ground stated in his or her objection, and the burden of proof shall be on the objector who shall be liable to pay the tax as assessed save in so far as he or she establishes that the assessment is incorrect.
(6) The Court may receive such evidence as in its opinion may assist it to deal effectually with the proceedings before it, whether or not the same would be otherwise admissible in a Court of law.
(7) Subject to the provisions of subsections (5) and (6), the procedure at the hearing before the Supreme Court of any such case stated shall be the same, with the necessary modifications, as if the case were an action in which the objector is the plaintiff and the Commissioner is the defendant
(8) On hearing any such case stated, the Court may:

(a) confirm or cancel or vary the assessment, or reduce or increase the amount thereof, and the assessment shall be altered by the Commissioner accordingly;

(b) make an assessment or direct the Commissioner to make an assessment, in which case the assessment shall be made by the Commissioner as so directed.
(9) The Commissioner shall comply with the provisions of subsection (2) within 6 months of the giving of any notice under subsection (1):
PROVIDED however that in any case where the Commissioner has required the objector to supply information relevant to the case to be stated and the objector has not done so the period of 6months shall not commence to run until the requirements of the Commissioner have been satisfied.

35. Obligation to pay tax not suspended by objection -The obligation to pay and the right to recover any tax shall not be suspended by any objection but if the objector succeeds in whole or in part any amount received by the Commissioner in excess of the amount determined to be properly payable shall forthwith be refunded to him or her by the Commissioner.

36. Determination of objection not to affect other income - The determination of an objection under this Part shall relate solely to the income which is the subject of the assessment objected to, and shall not affect the right of the Commissioner to assess tax on any other income of the objector, or to amend the assessment objected to in any manner rendered necessary by the assessment of tax on such other income.

37. Objections to which this Part does not apply -(1) The provisions as to objections in this Part of the Act shall not confer any right of objection with respect to:

(a) any matter which is left to the discretion, opinion, approval or determination of the Minister, or any act, matter of thing done or omitted by the Minister under the Inland Revenue Acts; or

(b) any determination of the Commissioner made in exercise of any power or discretion conferred on him or her to enlarge or extend the time for giving any notice, making any application, delivering any statement, or doing any other act, matter, or thing; or

(c) any determination of the Commissioner under section 26 of the Income Tax Act; or

(d) any matter in respect of which it is expressly provided that there shall be no right of objection to the determination of the Commissioner.
(2) Subject to the preceding subsection the right of objection under this Part shall extend to an objection to the decision of the Commissioner in the exercise of a discretion or power to determine any matter vested in the Commissioner or to any opinion formed by the Commissioner under the provisions of the Inland Revenue Acts.

PART V

COLLECTION

Source Deduction Payments

38. Application of this Part - (1) This Part applies despite anything to the contrary in any other Part .
(2) If any question is raised as to whether or not a source deduction payment is as to the whole or any part thereof subject to this Part, it shall be determined by the Commissioner.
(3) It is a ground for objection under Part IV to an assessment of the amount of any tax deduction that any determination of the Commissioner made for the purposes of this section is erroneous.

Division 1
Tax Deductions

38A. Division 1 not applicable to Salary and Wage Income derived after 1st January 1990 -This Division does not apply to salary and wage income derived on or after 1 January 1990.

39. Tax deductions to be made by employers -(1) For the purposes of enabling the collection of income tax from employees by installments, where a source deduction payment is made to an employee, who is a resident (other than a company, trustee, public or local authority unless lawfully required to do so by the Commissioner) or to any employee who is a non-resident or to an agent for any such employee, the employer or other person by whom the payment is made shall, at the time of making the payment, make a tax deduction therefrom in accordance with this Part :
PROVIDED THAT if a tax deduction is not made in any such case section 55 shall apply to the employee if he or she is a resident, and sections 43 and 44 if he or she is a non-resident.
(2) This section shall apply despite that the payment may be protected against assignment or charge.
(3) Where in the case of a regular full-time employment an employee receives an emolument from any one employer for part only of the pay period, that emolument shall be deemed to be for the whole of the pay period.
(4) For the purposes of this section, where an employee receives an emolument in respect of work performed by the employee as a pieceworker or outworker and the employee is paid on a production basis, that emolument shall be deemed to be for the period from the commencement of the performance of the work until the completion of the work.
(5) Where a source deduction payment for any pay period is paid in 2 or more separate sums, all sums so paid shall, for the purpose of calculating the amount of tax deduction, be aggregated, and the employer may, at his or her option, make the tax deduction wholly from one sum or in part from each or any 2 or more sums:
PROVIDED THAT where by reason of the size or nature of the employer's business or organization, the dispersal of employees, or difficulty in assembling particulars, or for any other reason approved by the Commissioner, it is impracticable for an employer to pay overtime pay for a pay period at the same time as the other emolument for the pay period, the overtime pay of any employee for the pay period may, for the purpose of calculating the amount of the tax deduction, be aggregated with the employee's emolument (other than overtime pay) for a subsequent pay period if, in respect of both pay periods:

(a) the amounts of the employee's emoluments (other than overtime pay) are substantially the same; and

(b) the amounts of the tax deductions applicable to the employee's emoluments are the same; and

(c) the tax code applicable to the employee is the same:
PROVIDED ALSO THAT, where it is the practice of an employer to pay overtime pay for an interval of time which is of the same length as a pay period of an employee but does not coincide with any such pay period, the overtime pay of the employee for any such interval may, for the purposes of the first proviso to this subsection, be deemed to be overtime pay for the pay period during which that interval ends, if the amounts of the employee's emolument (other than overtime pay) for that interval and for that pay period are substantially the same.

40. When emoluments deemed to accrue and be paid or received -(1) Where any emolument is paid to or received or enjoyed by any employee, the value of the emolument (whether in money or otherwise) is taken to accrue from day to day, and accordingly in each case the amounts so accrued for any days in a pay period of the employee is taken to be his or her emolument for the pay period, or, as the case may be, part of his or her emolument for the pay period.
(2) Where an emolument to which subsection (1) applies is received or enjoyed by an employee otherwise than in money, the value of the emolument for a pay period shall be deemed to be received by the employee at the time when the residue of the emolument for the pay period is paid or deemed to be paid to him or her, and shall be aggregated with that residue for the purpose of calculating the amount of the tax deduction:
PROVIDED THAT, where the value of the emolument constitutes the only emolument of the employee for the pay period, the value of the emolument shall be deemed to be received by the employee on the last day of the pay period.

41. Amount of emolument where ordinary payments to a superannuation fund are made -Where an employee is a contributor to a superannuation fund, the amount of the emolument paid to the employee for a pay period shall, for the purpose of calculating the amount of the tax deduction, be deemed to be the residue of the payment of the emolument after subtracting therefrom the amount of the regular current contributions made by the employee to the superannuation fund for that period.

42. Payment to be made by resident employee where tax deduction exceeds source deduction payment -(1) Where at the time when a source deduction payment is made or deemed to be made to an employee who is a resident, the amount of the source deduction payment available in money is less than the amount of the tax deduction, or there is no amount available in money, the employee shall forthwith pay to the employer the amount of the deficiency in the tax deduction or, as the case may be, the amount of the tax deduction, and every amount so paid on any date shall be deemed to be a tax deduction made by the employer on that date from the source deduction payment made or deemed to be made to the employee.
(2) If an employee makes default in paying to the employer any amount payable under this section, or any part of any such amount, the amount in respect of which default has been made shall be deemed for the purposes of section 55 to be a tax deduction that should have been made and was not made, and the provisions of that section shall apply accordingly.

43. Making of tax deductions from source deduction payments to non-residents-(1) Where:

(a) a tax deduction from a source deduction payment has not been made in full, under this Part; and

(b) that source deduction payment has been made to an agent or other person in Samoa for or on behalf of a non-resident entitled to the payment,-
that agent or other person shall, at the time of receiving the payment, make the tax deduction therefrom, or as the case may be, make a deduction therefrom of the amount of the deficiency in that tax deduction.
(2) Where:

(a) a person makes a tax deduction under this Part from a source deduction payment; and

(b) the source deduction payment is made by him or her to an agent or other person in Samoa for or on behalf of a non-resident entitled to the payment,-
the first-mentioned person shall, at the time of making the payment, advise that agent or other person in writing of the amount of the tax deduction made by him or her from the payment.
(3) This section does not apply where the source deduction payment otherwise than in money consists of a dividend of any of the kinds referred to in definition of the word “dividend” in section 3(1)(c), (d), (e), or (f) of the Income Tax Act, such a dividend being referred to for the purposes of this section and section 44 as a special dividend.

44. Tax deductions from dividends to non-residents not paid in money -(1) Where:

(a) any source deduction payment otherwise than in money that consists of a special dividend is to be paid, transferred or credited by a company to a non-resident; and

(b) the company would but for section 43(3), be required to make a tax deduction under that section from the dividend,-
the company shall not pay, transfer or credit the dividend to or in the interests of or on behalf of that person until an amount equal to the tax deduction that, but for that last-mentioned subsection, would have been required to be deducted has been paid to the Commissioner in respect of the dividend.
(2) Where:

(a) any source deduction payment otherwise than in money that consists of a special dividend is paid, transferred or credited to an agent or other person in Samoa for or on behalf of a non-resident entitled to the dividend without making the tax deduction in whole or in part; and

(b) that agent or other person would but for section 43(3), be required to make a tax deduction under that section from the dividend,-
that agent or other person shall not pay, transfer or credit the dividend to or in the interest of or on behalf of the non-resident until an amount equal to the tax deduction that, but for that last-mentioned subsection, would have been required to be made has been paid to the Commissioner in respect of the dividend.
(3) A person who has paid to the Commissioner an amount equal to the tax deduction in relation to a dividend in accordance with this section may, in writing, request the Commissioner to inform the company by which the dividend is to be paid, transferred or credited or any person to whom the dividend has been paid, transferred, or credited that that amount has been so paid in respect of that dividend, and, upon receipt of such a request, the Commissioner shall, in writing, inform that other person accordingly.

45. Amounts of tax deduction -(1) Subject to this Act,a tax deduction shall be of such amount as may be fixed by Act:
PROVIDED THAT where, by reason of the size of a source deduction payment, or (in the case of a reduced deduction) by reason of the number of the employee's dependants, or for any other reason, the amount of a tax deduction is not fixed by that Act, the tax deduction shall be of such amount as is fixed by the Commissioner, taking into account the same factors as have been taken into account in fixing the amounts of other tax deductions of a like nature.
(2) Any such Act may fix the amounts of tax deductions for periods throughout any year or during any part of any year or during any part of the next succeeding year, or indefinitely until the amounts are varied by a subsequent Act.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the amount of a tax deduction is the maximum amount in force having regard to the nature and amount of the source deduction payment:
PROVIDED THAT where a reduce deduction applies to the employee under section 46 the tax deduction shall be of an amount equal to the amount of the reduced deduction.

46 & 47. Repealed by section 3 of 1993/1994 No.5

48. Amount of total tax deduction from emoluments where several deductions are made for 1 week -Except as otherwise provided in this Act, where during any week ending with a Saturday an employee has engaged in more than one employment (whether with the same employer or with 2 or more employers), the amount of the total tax deductions required to be made in respect of all payments of emoluments made to the employee for that week or any part thereof shall be deemed, for the purpose of applying section 55 to be the amount of the tax deduction that would have been required to be made if all those payments had been one payment made by one employer for that week, and where the total tax deduction is not made in full section 55 shall apply accordingly:
PROVIDED THAT, where the employee left one regular full-time employment before he or she engaged in another regular full-time employment, the employee is taken not, for the purposes of this section, to have been engaged in both those employments in the 1 week.

49. Increased deductions to cover deficiency in deductions from advance payments -(1) Where the amount of the tax deduction to be made from any source deduction payment is increased, and before the date of the increase an employee has received from an employer a source deduction payment to the whole or a part of which the increase applies, and the proper tax deduction, taking the increase into account as far as it applies, has not been made in full at the time of the payment, the amount of the deficiency shall be added to the tax deduction required to be made from the next source deduction payment made to the employee in the same employment, and the amount of the tax deduction so required to be made shall be deemed to be increased accordingly.
(2) Where any payment of income has become subject to tax deductions under this Part, and before the date of its becoming so subject an employee has received from an employer a payment of income of which the whole or a part is so subject and the proper tax deduction has not been made in full at the time of the payment, the amount of the deficiency shall be added to the tax deduction required to be made from the next source deduction payment made to the employee in the same employment, and the amount of the tax deduction so required to be made shall be deemed to be increased accordingly.

50. Power of Commissioner to grant relief from or vary amount of deductions -(1) The Commissioner may, for the purpose of meeting the special circumstances of any case or class of cases and to such extent as he or she thinks fit, and upon or subject to such terms and conditions as he or she in his or her discretion requires:

(a) relieve any person from an obligation to make a tax deduction imposed upon him or her by this Part, or from an obligation to comply with any other provision of this Part; or

(b) vary the amount to be deducted under this Part by any person from any source deduction payment.
(2) No decision or requirement of the Commissioner under subsection (1) shall take effect prior to the Commissioner either giving notice in writing thereof to the taxpayer or publishing the same in the Gazette or in any newspaper, as deemed by the Commissioner to be appropriate.
(3) In every such case the provisions of this Part shall apply as if they had been amended in accordance with the decisions or requirements of the Commissioner in force under this section.

51. Repealed by section 3 of 1993/1994, No.5.

Division 1A
Deductions of Salary and Wage Tax

51A. Division 1A application to Salary & Wage Income derived after 1st January 1990. -This Division applies to salary and wage income derived on or after 1 January 1990.

51B. Deductions to be made by employers -(1) For the purpose of enabling the collection of salary and wage tax from employers by installments, where a payment of salary and wage income is made to an employee, who is a resident or to any employee who is a non-resident or to an agent for any such employee, the employer or other person by whom the payment is made shall, at the time of making the payment, make a salary and wage tax deduction therefrom in accordance with this Part:
PROVIDED THAT if a salary and wage tax deduction is not made in any such case section 55 shall apply to the employee if he or she is a resident, and sections 43 and 44 if he or she is a non-resident, in each case as if the payment of salary and wage income were a source deduction payment and the salary and wage tax deduction were a tax deduction.
(2) This section applies even if the payment may be protected against assignment or charge.
(3) Where in the case of a regular full-time employment an employee receives salary and wage income from any 1employer for part only of a fortnight, that salary and wage income is deemed to be for the whole of the fortnight.
(4) For the purposes of this section, where an employee receives salary and wage income in respect of work performed by the employee as piece worker or out worker and the employee is paid on a production basis, that salary and wage income is deemed to be for the period from the commencement of the performance of the work until the completion of that work.
(5) Where a salary and wage income payment for any fortnight is paid in 2 or more separate sums, all sums so paid shall, for the purpose of calculating the amount of salary and wage tax deduction, be aggregated, and the employer may, at his or her option, make the tax deduction wholly from one sum or in part from each of any 2 or more sums:
PROVIDED THAT where by reason of the size or nature of the employer's business or organisation, the dispersal of employees, or difficulty in assembling particulars, or for any other reason approved by the Commissioner, it is impracticable for an employer to pay overtime pay for a fortnight at the same time as the other salary and wage income for that fortnight, the overtime pay of any employee for that fortnight may, for the purpose of calculating the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction, be aggregated with the employee's salary and wage income (other than overtime pay) for a subsequent fortnight if, in respect of both fortnights:

(a) the amounts of the employee's salary and wage income (other than overtime pay) are substantially, the same; and

(b) the amounts of the salary and wage tax deductions applicable to the employee's salary and wage income are the same; and

(c) the tax code applicable to the employee is the same.
PROVIDED ALSO THAT, where it is the practice of an employer to pay overtime pay for an interval of time which is of the same length as a fortnight of an employee but does not coincide with any such fortnight, the overtime pay of the employee for any such interval may, for the purposes of the 1^stproviso to this subsection, be deemed to be overtime pay for the fortnight during which that interval ends, if the amounts of the employee's salary and wage income (other than overtime pay) for that interval and for that fortnight are substantially the same.

51C. When salary and wage income deemed to accrue and be paid or received -(1) Where any salary and wage income is paid to or received or enjoyed by any employee, the value of that salary and wage income (whether in money or otherwise) is deemed to accrue from day to day, and accordingly in each case the amounts accrued for any days in a fortnight are taken to be his or her salary and wage income for that fortnight, or, as the case may be, part of his or her salary and wage income for that fortnight.
(2) Where salary and wage income is received or enjoyed by an employee otherwise than in money, the value of that income for a fortnight is taken to be received by the employee at the time when the residue of his or her salary and wage income for that fortnight is paid or deemed to be paid to him or her and shall be aggregated with that residue for the purpose of calculating the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction:
PROVIDED THAT, where the value of the salary and wage income constitutes the only salary and wage income of the employee for the fortnight, the value of such income is deemed to be received by the employee on the last day of that fortnight.
(3) Where an employee receives in any fortnight income in the nature of back pay which represents an increased rate of pay for any previous fortnight, that income is liable to salary and wage tax in the fortnight in which it is paid to the employee.
(4) Except in any case to which subsection (3) applies where the salary or wage of an employee is accumulated and paid in a lump sum salary and wage tax on that sum shall be calculated as if such salary or wage had not been accumulated.
(5) Where a gratuity or lump sum (including payment for untaken leave) is received by an employee upon the termination of his or her employment or contract, and

(a) no other provision of the Inland Revenue Acts apply; and

(b) such gratuity or lump sum has been calculated on the basis of an entitlement to a certain number of days' pay,-
the salary and wage tax payable by the employee shall be calculated as if the gratuity or lump sum had been received in equal consecutive fortnightly payments during the number of fortnights represented by the number of days to which the entitlement relates and as if the first of such payments had been made on the day of the termination of the employment or contract.
(6) For the purposes of subsection (5):

(a) fourteen days shall constitute a fortnight; and

(b) tax shall be calculated and assessed at the rate and in accordance with the tax code applicable at the date of the termination of employment or contract and shall not be affected by any subsequent change in the tax rate or in the circumstances of the employee.
(7) Where a gratuity or lump sum (including payment for untaken leave) is received by an employee upon the termination of his or her employment or contract and subsection (5) does not apply to that gratuity or lump sum, tax shall be assessed thereon in the fortnight in which it is received.
(8) In every case where the gratuity or lump sum is of the kind referred to in section 9 of the Income Tax Act, salary and wage tax shall be paid only in respect of that portion of the gratuity or lump sum as would be deemed to be assessable income under that section.

51D. Payment to be made by resident employee where tax deduction exceeds source deduction payment -(1) Where at the time when a salary and wage income payment is made or deemed to be made to an employee who is a resident, the amount of the payment available in money is less than the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction, or there is no amount available in money, the employee shall pay to the employer the amount of the deficiency in the salary and wage tax deduction or, as the case may be, the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction, and every amount so paid on any date is deemed to be a salary and wage tax deduction made by the employer on that date from the salary and wage income payment made or deemed to be made to the employee.
(2) If an employee makes default in paying to the employer any amount payable under this section, or any part of any such amount, the amount in respect of which default has been made shall be deemed for the purposes of section 55 to be a salary and wage tax deduction that should have been made and was not made, and the provisions of that section shall apply accordingly.

51E. Making of tax deductions from sources deduction payments to non-residents -(1) Where:

(a) a salary and wage tax deduction from a salary and wage income payment has not been made in full, under this Part; and

(b) that payment has been made to an agent or other person in Samoa for or on behalf of a non-resident entitled to the payment that agent or other person shall, at the time of receiving the payment, make the salary and wage tax deduction therefrom, or as the case may be, make a deduction therefrom of the amount of the deficiency in that salary and wage tax deduction.
(2) Where:

(a) a person makes a salary and wage tax deduction under this Act from a salary and wage income payment; and

(b) that payment is made by him or her to an agent or other person in Samoa for or on behalf of a non-resident entitled to the payment, the first mentioned person shall, at the time of making the payment, advise that agent or other person in writing of the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction made by him or her from the payment.

51F. Amounts of tax deduction -(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act every salary and wage tax deduction shall be of such amount as may be fixed by Act :
PROVIDED THAT where, by reason of the size of a salary and wage income payment, or for any other reason, the amount of a salary and wage tax deduction is not fixed by that Act, the salary and wage tax deduction shall be of such amount as is fixed by the Commissioner, taking into account the same factors as have been taken into account in fixing the amounts of other salary and wage tax deductions of a like nature.
(2) Any such Act may fix the amounts of salary and wage tax deductions for any series of fortnights in any year or during any part of the next year or indefinitely until the amounts are varied by a subsequent Act.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the amount of every salary and wage tax deduction shall be the maximum amount in force having regard to the nature and amount of the salary and wage income payment:
PROVIDED THAT where a reduced salary and wage tax deduction applies to the employee pursuant to section 51 the salary and wage tax deduction shall be of an amount equal to the amount of the reduced salary and wage tax deduction.

51G & 51H. Repealed by section 3 of 1993/1994, No. 5
51I. Amount of total salary and wage tax deduction fromsalary and wage income where several deductions are made forfortnight -Except as otherwise provided in this Act, where during any fortnight an employee has engaged in more than one employment (whether with the same employer or with 2 or more employers), the amount of the total salary and wage tax deduction required to be made in respect of all payments of salary and wage income made to the employee for that fortnight or any part thereof is deemed, for the purpose of applying section 55 to be the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction that would have been required to be made if all those payments had been one payment made by one employer for that fortnight, and where the total salary and wage tax deduction is not made in full section 55 shall apply accordingly:
PROVIDED THAT, where the employee left one regular full-time employment before he or she engaged in another regular full-time employment, he or she shall not be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been engaged in both those employments in the 1fortnight.

51J. Increased deductions to cover deficiency in deductions from advance payments -(1) Where the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction to be made from any salary and wage income payment is increased, and before the date of the increase an employee has received from any employer a salary and wage income payment to the whole or a part of which the increase applies, and the salary and wage tax deduction, taking the increase into account as far as it applies, has not been made in full at the time of the payment, the amount of the deficiency shall be added to the salary and wage tax deduction required to be made from the next salary and wage income payment made to the employee in the same employment, and the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction so required to be made shall be increased accordingly.
(2) Where any payment of salary and wage income has become subject to salary and wage tax deductions under this Division, and before the date of its becoming so subject an employee has received from an employer a payment of salary and wage income of which the whole or a part is so subject and the proper salary and wage tax deduction has not been made in full at the time of the payment, the amount of the deficiency shall be added to the salary and wage tax deduction required to be made from the next salary and wage income payment made to the employee in the same employment, and the amount of the salary and wage tax deduction so required to be made shall be increased accordingly.

51K. Power of Commissioner to grant relief from or vary amount of deductions -(1) The Commissioner may, for the purpose of meeting the special circumstances of any case or class of cases and to such extent as he or she thinks fit, and upon or subject to such terms and conditions as he or she in his or her discretion requires:

(a) relieve any person from an obligation to make a salary and wage tax deduction imposed upon him or her by this Part or from an obligation to comply with any other provision of this Part; or

(b) vary the amount to be deducted under this Part by any person from any salary and wage income payment.
(2) No decision or requirement of the Commissioner under subsection (1) shall take effect prior to the Commissioner either giving notice in writing thereof to the taxpayer or publishing the same in the Gazette or in any newspaper, as deemed by the Commissioner to be appropriate.
(3) In every such case the provisions of this Part shall apply as if they had been amended in accordance with the decisions or requirements of the Commissioner in force under this section.

51L. Repealed by section 3 of 1993/1994, No.

51M. Variation to effect refunds -(1) For the purpose of section 101, the Commissioner may vary the amount to be deducted from the salary and wage income of an employee in any fortnight or series of fortnights.
(2) Where the Commissioner so varies the amount to be deducted he or she shall notify the relevant employer in writing and that employer shall after receipt of the notification of the variation comply with the terms of the notification.

51N. Transitional provision for exemptions -(1) An employer who at the coming into force of this Act customarily pays his or her employees or any class or group of his or her employees at intervals greater than fortnightly may apply to the Commissioner for a temporary exemption from the requirements of this Act as to fortnightly deductions.
(2) Where any application is made under this section, the Commissioner, if he or she is satisfied either that hardship would arise if that employer were required to make fortnightly deductions or that by reason of the nature of the employer's business it would be impracticable for him or her to make fortnightly deductions, may exempt such employer accordingly for such period as the Commissioner may think fit and shall during the period of exemption require the employer to make deductions and payments at such intervals and at such rate or rates as the Commissioner considers appropriate.
(3) The Commissioner upon application by an employer may extend a period of exemption.
(4) Where in any employment an employee is paid at intervals greater than fortnightly and the employer had been granted an exemption under this section the income of that employee during the period of the exemption shall be deemed to have been derived at fortnightly intervals and shall be assessable accordingly.

Division 2
Duties of Employers and Employees

52. Records to be kept by employer -(1) Subject to subsection (3) every employer who makes a source deduction payment or salary and wage income payment to any employee shall keep a “Source Deduction payment and Tax Deduction Record” in respect of the employee, showing:

(a) the gross amount of the source deduction payments, and separately the salary and wage income payments;

(b) the tax code of the employee (if any);

(c) the rate of the deductions from the source deduction payments and separately the salary and wage income payments;

(d) the amount of the deductions (if any) made from the source deduction payments or salary and wage income payments; and

(e) the amount of any other deductions (if any) made from the source deduction payment or salary and wage income payments; and

(f) the total of the gross source deduction payments and separately the salary and wage income payments made to the employee from the commencement of the income year or the date of his or her commencement as an employee if subsequently;

(g) the total deductions made from source deduction payments or salary and wage income payments made to the employee from the commencement of the income year, or date of his or her commencement as an employee if subsequently; and

(h) any other information which is required to be given therein by regulations made under this Act or by the Commissioner for the purposes of the Inland Revenue Acts and shall enter the amounts specified in paragraphs (a) to (h) in the record at the time of making each source deduction payment of salary and wage income payment. Additionally the employee shall retain a tax code declaration or certificate delivered to him or her in the last 4 years.

(2) The record in respect of each employee shall be kept in duplicate; and

(a) the first copy in respect of each source deduction payment shall be delivered to the Commissioner in accordance with section 53 with the payment of the deductions; and

(b) the second copy shall be retained by the employer as part of his or her records and section 119 applies accordingly.
(3) The Commissioner may vary any of the requirements of this section in relation to any employer or class of employers in such cases and to such extent as he or she thinks fit, and in every such case this section shall apply as so varied.

53. Payment of salary and wage tax deductions to Commissioner -(1) Subject to subsection (3) every employer who makes a tax or salary and wage tax deduction from a source deduction payment or from salary and wage income made or paid to an employee shall:

(a) within 14 days from the end of the month in which a source deduction payment or salary and wage income payment is made, pay to the Commissioner the amount of the tax or salary and wage tax deduction, and deliver to the Commissioner the copy of the "Source Deduction Payment and Tax Deduction Record" in respect thereof;

(b) not later than 15 February in each year, deliver to each employee a deduction certificate being a certificate signed by the employer, and in a form authorised by the Commissioner;

(c) not later that 7 days after the date of cessation of the employment of any employee deliver to the employee a deduction certificate signed by the employer, being a certificate in a form authorised by the Commissioner;

(d) not later than 15 February in each year (except in cases to which subsection (2) of this section applies), deliver to the Commissioner a reconciliation statement signed by the employer, being a certificate in a form authorised by the Commissioner and showing the total amount of all tax deductions and salary and wage tax deductions paid to the Commissioner by the employer in respect of source deduction payments or salary and wage income payments in the preceding year, and the total amount of all deductions shown in deduction certificates delivered to employees in respect of those source deduction payments or salary and wage income payments together with an explanation if the 2 totals do not agree, and accompanied by signed copies of all those deduction certificates; and

(e) not later than 15 of the second month after the month in any year in which an employer disposes of or otherwise ceases to carry on any business in respect of which he or she has made any such deductions, comply with paragraph (d) of this subsection in respect of those deductions as if the period from the beginning of that year to the date of last of those tax deductions were a previous year.
(2) Subsection (1)(d) does not apply to any employer in the case of any tax or salary or wage tax deduction from a source deduction payment or salary and wage income payment for which there is no pay period or applicable fortnight, made otherwise than in the course of a business carried on by him or her. In every such case the employer shall, not later than 15of the month next after the month in which the payment (if only one) or the final payment (in the case of 2 or more payments relating to the same services, contract, arrangement, dealing or matter) was made, deliver to the Commissioner a signed copy of the deduction certificate delivered by him or her to the employee and shall also indicate on that copy of the deduction certificate that it is delivered under this subsection.
(3) The Commissioner may vary any of the requirements of this section in relation to any employer or class of employers in such cases and to such extent as he or she thinks fit, and in every such case this section shall apply as so varied.
(4) The executor or administrator of a deceased employer shall fulfill such of the obligations of the employer under this section as have not been fulfilled by the employer before his or her death.

54. Requirement to register -A person who becomes an employer after the commencement of this Act shall register with the Commissioner within 7 days of becoming an employer but the holding of a business licence under the provisions of the Business Licences Act 1998 shall be a sufficient compliance with this section.

55. Employee to pay deductions to Commissioner -Where for any reason a tax or salary and wage tax deduction is required to be made but is not made or is not made in full at the time of the making of any source deduction payment or payments or paying salary and wage income the employee shall within 7 days from the end of the pay period:

(a) furnish to the Commissioner a return in the prescribed form of the source deduction payment or payments, or paying salary and wage income or payments;

(b) unless the employee is exempted from liability to pay the same or is not liable to pay the same, pay to the Commissioner an amount equal to the total of the tax or salary and wage tax deductions, deductions that should have been made and were not made.

Division 3
Pay Period Taxpayers

56. Interpretation -(1) For the purposes of this Act, an employee who is a resident shall be deemed to be a pay period taxpayer in respect of any year if in that year that employee did not derive any income other than:

(a) income from emoluments, not exceeding $1040; and

(b) income which is exempt from tax.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, an employee who is a resident is deemed not to be liable to have salary and wage tax deducted in respect of any fortnight if in that fortnight that employee's salary and wage income did not exceed $60.

57 & 57A. Repealed by section 3 of 1993/1994, No.5.

57B. Procedure when Commissioner requires return of salary and wage income to be furnished -(1) Where the Commissioner requires a taxpayer to furnish a return of salary and wage income derived during any fortnight he or she shall give written notice of such requirement to that taxpayer.
(2) Where the Commissioner requires any class of taxpayers to furnish returns of salary and wage income derived during any fortnight he or she shall give public notice of that requirement.
(3) Every return of salary and wage income shall be in such form as the Commissioner shall determine.

58. Income tax payable by pay period taxpayers -The amount of income tax for which a pay period taxpayer is liable in respect of any income year shall be determined as follows:

(a) if section 57 applies to that pay period taxpayer, then his or her tax shall be assessed under Part III ;

(b) if section 57 does not apply to that pay period taxpayer then:

(i) if he or she is not required by the Commissioner to file and does not file a return of income, then the amount of his or her income tax shall be the amount of the tax deducted from his or her source deduction payments under this Part ;

(ii) if he or she files a return of income, his or her income tax shall be assessed under Part III , but from the tax so assessed the Commissioner may allow, to meet the special circumstances of any case, such adjustment as is equitable in his or her opinion so that the taxpayer is not deprived of any benefit to which he or she would have been entitled had he or she not filed a return of income.

Division 4
Crediting Tax Deductions

59. Tax Deductions to be credited against tax assessed -(1) An employee who is required to furnish or who furnishes to the Commissioner a return of any assessable income derived by him or her in any income year shall, except where the Commissioner otherwise directs, forward with the return a copy of all deduction certificates delivered to the employee in respect of tax or salary and wage tax deductions made in the income year from source deduction payments or salary and wage income payments made to the employee.
(2) Where the Commissioner receives from an employee any deduction certificates in respect of tax deductions made in the income year from source deduction payments made to the employee, or receives the amount of any deduction so made and not included in any tax deduction and not included in any deduction certificate, and the Commissioner has made an assessment of income tax in respect of the income derived by the employee in the income year or is satisfied that no income tax is payable in respect of that income, the Commissioner shall credit the total of the amounts of the tax deductions (but not including any additional tax or penal tax) shown in the certificates, or received as aforesaid, in payment successively of:

(a) the income tax (if any) payable by the employee in respect of his or her taxable income for the income year;

(b) the income tax (if any) due by the employee and unpaid in respect of any year before that income year; and

(c) the income tax (including provisional tax) (if any) due by the employee and unpaid in respect of any year after that income year and, if more than one, in the past of those years,-
and shall refund to the employee an amount equal to the amount of the tax deductions not so credited.
(3) If the amount credited by the Commissioner under subsection (2)(b) of this section is less than the total of the income tax referred to in that paragraph, he or she shall apply the amount so credited in payment, so far as the amount extends, of such income tax as he or she determines.
(4) If the Commissioner has reason to believe that any deduction certificate received by him or her for the purposes of this section is incorrect in any particular, he or she may retain the certificate for such period as he or she thinks fit, and shall not deal with the certificate as required by the foregoing provisions of this section until he or she is satisfied that the certificate is correct.

60. Lost tax deduction certificates -Where the Commissioner is satisfied that a tax deduction certificate has been lost or destroyed, and is satisfied as to the amount of the deductions, he or she shall apply the provisions of section 59 in the same manner as if the certificate had been received by him or her.

61. Tax deductions for which no certificate issued - Where the Commissioner is satisfied that any employer has made any tax deduction from a source deduction payment made to an employee, and has failed to deliver to the employee within the prescribed time a tax deduction certificate in respect of the deduction, he or she may apply the provisions of section 59 in the same manner as if a tax deduction certificate showing the tax deduction had been delivered to the employee and received by him or her.

Division 5
Recovery of Tax Deductions

62. Amounts deducted to be held in trust for Government -(1) All amounts deducted by any employer pursuant to this Part and all amounts required to have been deducted pursuant to this Part shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to have been deducted and any such amount deducted or deemed to have been deducted shall be deemed to be held in trust by that employer for the Government and shall not be subject to attachment in respect of any debt or liability of that employer and in the event of any liquidation, assignment or bankruptcy the said amounts shall form no part of the estate in liquidation, assignment, or bankruptcy but shall be paid in full to the Commissioner before any distribution of the property is made.
(2) The provisions of subsection (1) shall also apply to any additional tax assessed under section 80, or penal tax, assessed under section 113, in respect of any failure to deduct or to account for any tax deductions deemed to have been held in trust under subsection (1), as if that additional tax or penal tax were tax deductions.

63. Employer failing to make deductions -(1)Where an employer fails to make any deduction in accordance with his or her obligations under this Part, the amount in respect of which default has been made shall constitute a debt payable by the employer to the Commissioner and shall be deemed to have become due and payable to the Commissioner forthwith on such failure.
(2) The right of the Commissioner to recover from the employer the amount in respect of which default has been made shall be in addition to any right of the Commissioner to recover that amount from the employee under this Part; and nothing in this Part shall be construed as preventing the Commissioner from taking such steps as he or shethinks fit to recover that amount from the employer and from the employee concurrently, or from recovering that amount wholly from the employer or from the employee or partly from the employer and partly from the employee.
(3) Where any amount, including any additional tax or any penal tax, recoverable in accordance with this Act from the employee, is in fact paid by the employer, the amount so paid may be recovered by the employer from the employee.

64. Unpaid tax deductions, etc., to constitute a chargeon employer's property -(1) Where an employer fails wholly or in part to make any tax deduction in accordance with his or her obligations under this Part, or is liable to pay any sum to the Commissioner under this Part, an amount equal to the total unpaid to the Commissioner in respect of that tax deduction or sum (including any additional tax or penal tax), or in respect of any judgment obtained therefor (including any costs, fees or expenses included in the judgment or otherwise payable by the employer to the Commissioner in respect thereof), shall be a charge on all the real and personal property of the employer, except so far as that may be precluded by Article 102 of the Constitution.
(2) Each charge created by this section is subject to all mortgages, charges or encumbrances existing at the time of the creation of the charge, but subject to the provisions of this section, has priority over all other mortgages, charges or encumbrances. Despite anything to the contrary in any other Act, if any property subject to the charge created by this section is also subject to a charge created by that other Act, the charges shall rank equally with each other unless by virtue of that other Act the charge created thereby would be deferred to the charge created by this section.
(3) The Commissioner may register any charge on any property created by this section under any registration Act to which the property is subject by depositing with the appropriate Registrar a certificate under the hand of the Commissioner setting forth the description of the property charged and the amount payable; and in every such case the Registrar shall, without payment of any fee, register the certificate as if it were an instrument registerable under the registration Act.
(4) Upon the registration of any such certificate under any registration Act, it is deemed to be actual notice to all persons of the existence and amount of the charge, and the charge shall have operation and priority accordingly in relation to the property that is subject to the charge and to the registration Act:
PROVIDED THAT insofar as any mortgage that is registered in respect of that property before the registration of the charge secures any money that is advanced after written notice of the charge or of the registration of the charge has been given to the mortgagee, or to any solicitor acting for the mortgagee in respect of the mortgage, the charge shall have priority over the mortgage.
(5) When any registered charge has been satisfied, the Commissioner shall deposit with the appropriate Registrar a release of the charge and the Registrar shall, without payment of any fee, register the release as if it were an instrument registerable under the registration Act.
(6) Any charge created by this section which is registered against any property shall operate to secure any amount secured by any prior unregistered charge and unpaid at the time of registration of the charge, and also to secure any amount secured by any charge coming into existence after the registration of the charge, to the intent that the registered charge shall operate to secure the total of all amounts owing by the employer under all charges created by this section.
(7) If any amount constitutes by virtue of this section a charge of any property, despite anything to the contrary in any other enactment, the Magistrates' Court may make such order as it thinks fit, either for the sale of that property or any part thereof, or for the appointment of a receiver of the rents, profits, or income thereof, and for the payment of the amount of the charge and the costs of the Commissioner out of the proceeds of the sale or out of the rents, profits, or income.
(8) Where any property has been sold under any such order, despite anything to the contrary in any other enactment, the Magistrates' Court may, on the application of the purchaser or the Commissioner, make an order vesting the property in the purchaser.
(9) Every such vesting order has the same effect as if all persons entitled to the property had been free from all disability and had duly executed all proper conveyances, transfers, and assignments of the property for such estate or interest as is specified in the order, and the order shall be subject to stamp duty.

Division 6
Miscellaneous Provisions

65. Agreement not to make deduction to be void -Where a deduction is required to be made under a provision of this Part, any agreement not to make the deduction in accordance with the provision is void.

66. Amount of tax deductions deemed to be received by employee -Where any amount has been deducted from a source deduction payment or from salary and wage income by way of deduction under this Part, the amount so deducted:

(a) as between the employer and the employee, shall be deemed to have been received by the employee at the time of the source deduction payment or salary and wage income payment;

(b) for the purposes of the Inland Revenue Acts, shall be deemed to have been derived by the employee at the same time and in the same way as the residue of the source deduction payment or salary and wage income payment:

PART VI
COLLECTION

Provisional Tax

67. Application of this Part -Despite anything in any other Part, provisional tax shall be payable by all provisional taxpayers in accordance with this Part .

68. Provisional taxpayers -For the purposes of this Act, a person who in any income year derives taxable income otherwise than from source deduction payments and a person who in that income year derives any such income as a trustee or agent for any such person are deemed to be a provisional taxpayer in respect of that year.

69. Amount of provisional tax -(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the amount of provisional tax payable in respect of any income year by a provisional taxpayer shall be the amount of income tax assessable in respect of the income derived by the taxpayer for the last preceding year, after deducting from that amount the amount (if any) of:

(a) any tax deductions made from any source deduction payments in respect of that last preceding year; and

(b) any foreign tax credits allowable under the Income Tax Act or under this Act in respect of that last preceding year; and

(c) any provisional tax in respect of that income year paid by an agent on behalf of the provisional taxpayer.
(2) In any case where a provisional taxpayer commenced during the last preceding income year to derive income from any source the amount of provisional tax payable in respect of the income derived in the income year shall be such amount as the Commissioner estimates would have been the income tax assessable in respect of the income derived in the last preceding income year if the taxpayer had commenced at the beginning of that last preceding income year to derive income from that source.
(3) Where any provisional taxpayer estimates that the income to be derived by him or her in any income year will be less by more than 10% than the income derived by him or her in the last preceding income year, he or she may apply to the Commissioner, stating fully the reasons supporting his or her application, to have the amount of the provisional tax to be paid by him or her based on such reduced estimate of income and the Commissioner may, having regard to the circumstances of the case, agree to the adoption of that basis. Such application may be made at any time before the expiration of 1 month after the due date for the payment of the 3rdinstalment of provisional tax.

70. When provisional tax payable - (1) Provisional tax due by any provisional taxpayer in respect of the income of any year shall be payable in 3 instalments on or before 31 March, 31 July, and 31 October in that year and the amount of each instalment shall be one-third of the amount of the provisional tax ascertained under section 69:
PROVIDED THAT where the Commissioner has agreed to a reduction in the amount of provisional tax payable in a year before the payment of the 2nd and 3rd instalments, or after the payment of the 2nd instalment and before the payment of the 3rd instalment, the amount payable on those instalments shall be varied accordingly.
(2) Where the amount of provisional tax payable by a person is less than $50 then payment shall be made in one amount on or before 31 March.

71. Additional tax where provisional taxunder-estimated -(1) Where in accordance with the provisions of section 69(3) the Commissioner has accepted from any provisional taxpayer an estimate of the income to be derived by him or her in any income year as the basis of payment of provisional tax in that income year, and that estimate proves to be less than 80% of the actual income derived by him or her during that income year, that person shall, subject to subsection (2), be liable to pay to the Commissioner by way of additional tax an amount equal to 10% of the difference (reduced by the amount of any deductions made in accordance with the provisions of Part V from source deduction payments derived by that person in that income year, and reduced by any foreign tax credits allowable under the Income Tax Act or under this Act in respect of that income year) between:

(a) the amount of tax calculated on 80% of the actual income derived by him or her in that income year; and

(b) the amount of tax calculated on the basis of the full amount of the aforesaid estimate.
(2) Where the Commissioner is satisfied that any person has become liable to pay additional tax under this section by reason of his or her income for that income year being affected by circumstances of which he or she was not or could not reasonably have been aware at the time of making the estimate referred to in section 69(3), the Commissioner may, in his or her discretion but subject to section 103(2), remit the additional tax or any part thereof.
(3) Additional tax payable under this section shall for all purposes be deemed to be of the same nature as the tax that is assessed to the taxpayer in respect of the income derived by him or her in that income year and shall be recoverable accordingly.

72. Special circumstances -Despite anything to the contrary in this Act the Commissioner may, to meet the special circumstances of any case or class of cases and subject to such terms and conditions as he or she in his or her discretion requires, reduce the amount of any provisional tax otherwise payable by any person or make such adjustment as in his or her opinion is equitable.

73. Voluntary payments of additional provisional tax - Any person may, at his or her option at such time or times in an income year make voluntary payments of such amounts as he or she thinks fit to the Commissioner by way of additional provisional tax, being either:

(a) amounts in excess of provisional tax payable by him or her in respect of his or her income of that income year; or

(b) amounts in respect of that income year where no provisional tax is payable by him or her in respect of that income year.

74. Interim returns -(1) This section applies in every case where a provisional taxpayer is liable in an income year to furnish a return (in this section referred to as the required return) of income derived by him or her in the preceding year (in this section referred to as the specified year) and to pay instalments of provisional tax in respect of the income of the income year, and:

(a) he is not required by or under Part III to furnish, and does not furnish, the required return by the due date for payment of the first instalment of the provisional tax; or

(b) pursuant to an extension of time granted under section 22(3) for furnishing the required return, he or she is not required to furnish, and does not furnish, the required return by the due date for payment of the first instalment of the provisional tax.
(2) The taxpayer, not later than the due date for payment of the first instalment of the provisional tax in respect of income derived in the income year, or within such further period as the Commissioner in his or her discretion may allow in any case or class of cases, shall furnish a return marked "Interim" in the prescribed form showing the estimated taxable income of the taxpayer for the specified year and his or her calculation of the amount of the provisional tax which he or she would be liable to pay in respect of his or her income for that income year if that estimated amount of taxable income had been his or her actual taxable income for that specified year and, until the required return is furnished, that amount of provisional tax so calculated shall, subject to subsection (3), be deemed to be the provisional tax payable by the taxpayer for that income year.
(3) Until the required return is furnished, the provisional tax payable by the taxpayer in respect of the income derived for an income year shall not be less than would be payable in accordance with section 69(1) and (2) if every reference to the “last preceding year” or the “last preceding income year” were a reference to the year immediately preceding the specified year.
(4) Where the taxpayer has paid any instalment of provisional tax, being provisional tax the amount of which has been calculated under subsection (2) or (3), and subsequent to that payment the taxpayer furnishes the required return, any underpayment of provisional tax which has occurred shall be due and payable to the Commissioner on the same day as the return is furnished.

74A. Transitional provisions for payment of income taxby companies -(1) Subject to this section, income tax payable by any company on income derived in the income year that commenced on the 1st day of January 1976 shall be due and payable in 5 equal instalments in accordance with the following provisions, namely:

(a) by payment of the first instalment on 31 October 1977;

(b) by payment of the second instalment on31October 1978;

(c) by payment of the third instalment on 31October 1979;

(d) by payment of the fourth instalment on 31 October 1980;

(e) by payment of the fifth instalment on 31 October 1981.
(2) In any case where the amount of income tax payable by any company in respect of income derived in the income year that commenced on 1January 1976 has not been ascertained at the date any instalment of that tax is due and payable under subsection (1), the amount of that instalment shall be an amount equal to one-fifth of the income tax assessed to that taxpayer in respect of income derived in the income year immediately preceding that first-mentioned income year, and that amount shall be due and payable notwithstanding that no assessment has been made of the income tax payable by that taxpayer in respect of income derived in that first-mentioned income year or that no notice of the amount so payable has been given:
PROVIDED THAT if no income tax is payable by that taxpayer in respect of the income derived in the income year immediately preceding that first-mentioned income year, or the income tax has not been assessed to the taxpayer in respect of the income derived in the income year immediately preceding that first-mentioned income year, the taxpayer shall, subject to adjustment by the Commissioner, estimate the amount of that instalment of tax and that amount so estimated or adjusted shall be due and payable.
(3) In any case where subsection (2) has applied to determine the amount of any instalment of income tax payable by any company and subsequently the amount of income tax payable by the company in respect of income derived by the company in the income year that commenced on the 1st day of January 1976 is ascertained by the Commissioner and notice thereof is given to the taxpayer, any underpayment of any instalment which has occurred shall be due and payable on such date as the Commissioner in his or her discretion determines, not being a date earlier than the date of that notice.
(4) Despite anything in subsection (1), where any company to which this section applies:

(a) is believed by the Commissioner to be about to discontinue the carrying on of business in Samoa; or

(b) has ceased to carry on business in Samoa or to derive income; or

(c) is in the course of being wound up (whether by order of the Supreme Court or voluntarily or subject to the supervision of that Court),-
the Commissioner may give notice or amended notice to that company specifying such earlier date or dates as the Commissioner shall in his or her discretion determine on which the income tax (being income tax which has been assessed but has not become due and payable as at the date of that notice or, as the case may be, amended notice) payable by that company on income derived in the income year that commenced on 1 January 1976 shall be due and payable.
(5) This section shall not apply to any company which does not have a fixed establishment in Samoa and which is not deemed to be resident in Samoa within the meaning of Part II of the Income Tax Act 1974.

75. Provisional tax to be credited against tax assessed -(1) Where any provisional taxpayer has paid provisional tax in respect of any income year, and the Commissioner has made an assessment of income tax in respect of the income derived by the taxpayer in that income year or is satisfied that no income tax is payable in respect of that income, the Commissioner shall credit the amount of the provisional tax paid by the taxpayer (not including any additional tax or penal tax) in payment successively of:

(a) the income tax (if any) payable by the taxpayer in respect of his or her taxable income for that income year;

(b) the income tax (if any) due by the taxpayer and unpaid in respect of the income of any year before that income year;

(c) the income tax (including provisional tax)(if any) due by the taxpayer and unpaid in respect of the income of any year after that income year and, if more than one, in the order of those years,-
and shall refund to the taxpayer an amount equal to the amount of the provisional tax not so credited.
(2) If the amount credited by the Commissioner under subsection (1)(b)is less than the total of the income tax referred to in that paragraph, the Commissioner shall apply the amount so credited in payment, so far as the amount extends, of such income tax as the Commissioner determines.

76. Application of Act to provisional tax - Subject to the provisions of this Part, the provisions of this Act apply with respect to every amount that any person is liable to pay to the Commissioner under this Part, whether as provisional tax or otherwise, as if the amount were income tax.

PART VII
PAYMENT AND RECOVERY OF TAX

77. Due date for payment of tax -(1) Except where otherwise expressly provided in this Act income tax shall be due and payable by any taxpayer on the date on which his or her annual return of income is required to be furnished under section 22.
(2) In any case where a notice of assessment in respect of any year has not been issued and the delay is, in the opinion of the Commissioner, due to any neglect, default or omission of the taxpayer, the Commissioner when issuing the notice of assessment may fix a date which may be before the date of issue of the assessment, which shall be considered to be the due date on which the tax payable under that assessment became due and payable.

78. Extension of time for payment -(1)At the request of any taxpayer to meet the special circumstances of his or her case, whether caused by hardship, or by circumstances beyond his or her control, or for any other reason, during the continuance of those circumstances, the Commissioner may agree to accept from that taxpayer payment of any amount of tax assessed by instalment, each instalment to be paid on or before a date specified by the Commissioner.
(2) The Commissioner may at any time extend the date on or before which payment of an assessment or instalment is to be made.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to change the due date for payment of any tax for the purpose of section 80 relating to additional tax for default in payment on the due date.
(4) In this section, "tax" means salary and wage tax.

79. Place of payment of tax -Payment of taxes and other money payable under the Inland Revenue Acts shall be made at:

(a) the Inland Revenue Department, Apia; or

(b) the Office of the Administration Officer, Tuasivi, Savaii; or

(c) any other place approved for that purpose by the Commissioner.

80. Additional tax for default in payment -(1) Subject to this section, if any tax remains unpaid at the expiration of 1month after the due date thereof, (whether already assessed or not) or after the date of demand, as the case may be, 10%of the amount of tax unpaid is deemed to be added thereto by way of additional tax, and shall be payable accordingly.
(1A) Subject to this section, if any tax remains unpaid at the expiration of 6months after the due date thereof, (whether already assessed or not) or after the date of demand, as the case may be, 20% per annum of the amount of tax unpaid shall be deemed to be added thereto by way of additional tax, and shall be payable accordingly.
(1B) The Commissioner may, in any case, for reasons that he or she thinks sufficient, remit the additional tax imposed by subsection (1A) or any part of the tax.
(2) In any case in which an assessment is not made until after the due date of the tax, or is increased after the due date of the tax, and the Commissioner is satisfied that the taxpayer has not been guilty of wilful neglect or default in making due and complete returns for the purposes of that tax, the Commissioner shall, in his or her notice to the taxpayer of the assessment or amended assessment, or in any subsequent notice, fix a new date for the payment of the tax or of the increase, as the case may be, and the date so fixed shall be deemed to be the due date of that tax or increase for the purposes of subsection (1):
(3) Where the taxpayer is resident beyond Samoa and has no agent in Samoa the Commissioner shall, before charging the additional tax as aforesaid, grant such further time, not exceeding 6 months after the due date of the tax, as he or she may deem necessary.
(4) In this section, “tax” means salary and wage tax.

80A. Additional tax for default in making tax deductionor in paying any amount due to the Commissioner -(1) Where:

(a) any employer or other person by whom any source deduction payment or salary and wage income payment is made fails wholly or in part to make a deduction therefrom in accordance with his or her obligation under Part V; or

(b) any person who has made a deduction fails wholly or in part within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner to pay the amount of the deduction to the Commissioner; or

(c) any person who is liable to pay any amount to the Commissioner under Part V fails to pay the amount on the due date for payment thereof,-
that employer or other person shall, unless the Commissioner is satisfied that he or she has not been guilty of wilful neglect or default, be liable, without conviction, in addition to any other penalty to which he or she may be liable, to a penalty equal to 10% of the amount in respect of which default has been made.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), a deduction is deemed to have been made if and when payment is made of the net amount of any source deduction payment or of the salary and wage income.
(3) A penalty imposed under this section shall for all purposes be deemed to be of the same nature as the amount or part thereof and in respect of which it is imposed, and shall be recoverable accordingly.
(4) This Act applies with respect to the amount of every penalty imposed under this section as if it were additional tax under section 80 and as if the person liable to the penalty were the taxpayer.

81. Fee on late filing of return – A person required to make a return who fails to make the return within 1month of the due date is liable to pay forthwith a late filing fee of $300 for a company and $100 for any person other than a company and such late filing fee shall be deemed to be income tax for all the purposes of this Act except for the calculation of additional tax.

81A. Directors liable when company in default -(1) Where any company makes default in the payment of any tax due and payable by it, all of the persons who were directors of that company when the default first occurred shall be jointly and severally liable for the payment of that tax as if they had been personally assessed in respect of the same.
(2) Nothing in this section affects the liability of the defaulting company for payment of the tax and any penalty in respect thereof or the rights of such directors to recover from the defaulting company any tax paid by them in meeting any obligation imposed by this section.

82. Mode of recovery of unpaid tax -All unpaid tax, or unpaid salary and wage tax whatever the amount involved, shall be recoverable as a debt in the Magistrates' Court by the Commissioner suing in his or her official name on behalf of the Government.

83. Deduction of income tax from payment due to defaulters -(1) Where any taxpayer has made default in the payment of any income tax or salary and wage tax payable by him or her for any year of assessment, or fortnight as the case may be the Commissioner may by notice in writing require any person to deduct from any amount payable or to become payable by that person to the taxpayer such sum as may be specified in the notice and to pay every sum so deducted to the Commissioner to the credit of the taxpayer within such time as may be specified in the notice.
(2) This section binds the Government.
(3) Where any notice under this section relates to any wages or salary, the sums required to be deducted therefrom shall be computed so as not to exceed a deduction each week greater than 5% of the tax or salary and wages tax due and payable by the taxpayer at the date of the notice, or an amount equal to 20% of the wages or salary, whichever is less.
(4) Any notice under this section may be at any time revoked by the Commissioner by a subsequent notice to the person to whom the original notice was given (in this section referred to as the debtor), and shall be so revoked at the request of the taxpayer at any time when the Commissioner is satisfied that all the amounts then due and payable by the taxpayer have been paid, and that the Commissioner holds to the credit of the taxpayer an amount not less than the amount of the income tax (if any) and salary and wages tax to become due and payable by him or her during the current year of assessment.
(5) A copy of every notice given under this section in respect of any taxpayer and of the revocation of any such notice shall be given to the taxpayer by the Commissioner.
(6) Whenever pursuant to a notice under this section any deduction is made from any amount payable to any taxpayer, the taxpayer shall be entitled to receive from the debtor a statement in writing of the fact of the deduction and of the purpose for which it was made.
(7) The sum deducted from any amount pursuant to a notice under this section shall be deemed to be held in trust for the Government and, without prejudice to any other remedies against the debtor or any other person, shall be recoverable in the same manner in all respects as if it were income tax payable by the debtor.
(8) A person commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 2 penalty units who:

(a) fails to make any deduction required by a notice under this section to be made from any amount payable by him or her to a taxpayer;

(b) fails after making any such deduction to pay the sum deducted to the Commissioner within the time specified in that behalf in the notice.

84. Income tax charged on property of taxpayer - (1) Where any taxpayer has made default in payment of any income tax, salary and wage tax, additional tax, or penal tax, or in respect of any judgment therefor (including any costs, fees, or expenses included in the judgment or otherwise payable to the Commissioner in respect thereof), the amount shall be a charge on all the real and personal property of the taxpayer, except so far as that may be precluded by Article 102 of the Constitution.
(2) A charge created by this section operates in the same manner as if it were a charge under section 64.

85. No limitation of action to recover tax or salary and wagetax -No statute of limitations shall bar or affect any action or remedy for the recovery of tax or salary and wage tax.

86. Procedure in DistrictCourt where defendant absent from Samoa or not traced -In any action in the District Court for the recovery of tax, or salary and wage tax if the defendant is absent from Samoa or cannot after reasonable inquiry be found, service of the summons may with the leave of a Judge of the District Court be effected by posting a duplicate or sealed copy thereof in a letter addressed to the defendant at his or her present or last known place of abode or business, whether in Samoa or elsewhere.

87. Particulars of claim or demand - In any action in any Court for the recovery of tax or salary and wage tax it shall be sufficient if the particulars of claim or demand state the amount sought to be recovered and the date on which the same became payable, and such further particulars (if any) as the Commissioner thinks necessary in order fully to inform the defendant of the nature of the claim.

88. Commissioner may appear in legal proceedings by officer of the Public Service -In any action in the District Court for the recovery of tax or salary and wage tax, the Commissioner may, if he or she thinks fit, appear by some officer or employee in the Samoa Public Service, and the certificate in writing of the Commissioner stating that any person so appearing is such an officer or employee and that that person appears for the Commissioner shall be sufficient evidence of the facts so stated and of that person's authority in that behalf.

89. Costs for or against Commissioner -In all proceedings in any Court for recovery of tax, costs may be awarded to or against the Commissioner in the same manner as in other cases, but all costs so awarded against the Commissioner shall be payable out of money appropriated by Government and not otherwise.

90. Proceedings not affected by vacancy or change inoffice of Commissioner -No action instituted by the Commissioner for the recovery of tax or salary and wage tax, and no proceedings on objection to an assessment of tax or salary and wage tax, shall abate by reason of any vacancy in the office of Commissioner, or deemed defectively constituted by reason of any change in the holder of that office, and the action or proceeding shall be continued in the ordinary course as if the Commissioner and his or her successors in office were a corporation sole.

91. Government Proceedings Act not affected -Nothing in this Act affects the operation of the Government Proceedings Act 1974, and all rights and remedies conferred upon the Government by that Act and by this Act shall coexist and may be exercised independently of one another, and tax may be recovered accordingly.

92. Recovery of tax or salary and wage tax paid by oneperson on behalf of another –A person who in pursuance of this Act pays any tax or salary and wage tax for or on behalf of any other person shall be entitled to recover the amount so paid from that other person as a debt, or to retain or deduct that amount out of or from any money which is or becomes payable by him or her to that other person; and if he or she has paid the tax or salary and wage tax as mortgagee, then, until repaid, it shall be deemed to form part of the money secured by the mortgage, and shall bear interest at the same rate accordingly.

PART VIII
CREDITS FOR FOREIGN TAX

93. Interpretation -(1) In this Part of the Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

“Agreement” means a convention or agreement made between the Government of a territory outside Samoa and the Government of Samoa, with a view to affording relief from double taxation in relation to foreign tax imposed by the laws of that territory and Samoa tax, being an arrangement made under section 52 of the Income Tax Act;

“Determination” means a determination of the Commissioner made pursuant to section 94; and includes an amended determination;

“Foreign Tax” means tax, other than Samoa tax, that is subject of an agreement;

“Samoa tax” means income tax imposed as such by the Income Tax Act.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, a reference in agreement to profits of an activity or business shall, in relation to Samoa tax, be read, where the context so permits, as a reference to taxable income derived from the activity or business.

94. Determination of claims for credits -(1) Where a taxpayer claims a credit for foreign tax in accordance with the provisions of an agreement, the Commissioner shall determine whether a credit is allowable and, if so, the amount of the credit.
(2) The Commissioner may and at any time amend a determination as he or she thinks necessary in order to ensure the correctness thereof.
(3) A determination shall not form part of an assessment of Samoa tax.

95. Notice of determination to taxpayer -(1) As soon as convenientafter a determination is made, the Commissioner shall cause notice of the determination to be given to the taxpayer.
(2) The notice under this section may be included in a notice of assessment given to the taxpayer pursuant to section 28 .

96. Determinations: conclusiveness, evidence, and objections -Sections 30 and 31 apply, with all necessary modifications,to determinations under this Part in like manner as they apply to assessments.
97. Information for credit to be furnished within 4 years -A credit for foreign tax shall not be allowed unless, within 4 years after the end of the income year in which the taxpayer derived the income against the Samoa tax on which the credit is claimed, or within such further period, not exceeding 2 years, as the Commissioner in his or her discretion allows in any case or class of cases, the taxpayer claiming the credit:

(a) makes application in writing to the Commissioner for credit; and

(b) furnishes to the Commissioner all information (including information in relation to any amount to which the taxpayer is entitled in respect of any relief or repayment of the foreign tax) necessary for determining the amount of the credit.

98. Maximum credits -Where, under the provisions of an agreement, a credit for foreign tax is allowable in respect of any income, the amount of that credit shall not exceed the amount of Samoa tax payable in respect of that income.

99. Recovery of excess credit allowed through not taking into account refund of foreign tax -Where:

(a) a credit for foreign tax payable either directly or by deduction being a tax which a taxpayer is personally liable to pay, has been allowed against Samoa tax payable by the taxpayer in respect of the same income; and

(b) that credit has not taken into account any refund or repayment of the foreign tax received by the taxpayer, whether before or after that credit was allowed; and

(c) the amount of that credit was in excess of the amount that would have been allowed if only the amount of the foreign tax not refunded or repaid to the taxpayer had been taken into account in calculating the credit,-
the amount of that excess is deemed to be income tax due and payable to the Commissioner on day 30 after the date of the notice of determination of the credit or the date of the receipt by the taxpayer of that refund or repayment, whichever date is the later, and the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly.

100. Ascertainment of Samoa tax on income - Where, for the purposes of the application of the provisions of an agreement or for any other purposes of this Act, it is necessary to ascertain the amount of Samoa tax payable by a taxpayer in respect of any income of a particular nature or from a particular source derived by him or her in an income year (except for taxable income deemed to have been derived under Divisions 10, 11 and 12 of Part II of the Income Tax Act) the amount of tax shall be ascertained in accordance with the following formula:
a
-- x c
b
where:

(a) is the income in respect of which it is necessary to ascertain the amount of Samoa tax; and

(b) is the amount of the taxable income that was taken into account in calculating item c less the amount of any taxable income deemed to have been derived under Divisions 10, 11, and 12; and

(c) is the amount of income tax payable by the taxpayer (before allowing any credit for foreign tax from that income tax) in respect of the income derived by him or her in that income year less the amount of any income tax payable by the taxpayer in respect of any taxable income deemed to have been derived under Divisions 10, 11, and 12.

PART IX
REFUNDS AND RELIEF FROM TAX

100A. Meaning of “tax” in this Part -In sections 101, 102, 104 and 105, “tax” includes salary and wage tax.

101. Refunds of excess tax -In any case where the Commissioner is satisfied that tax has been paid in excess of the amount properly payable or the taxpayer is otherwise eligible to a tax refund in terms of the assessment of the taxpayer he or she shall refund the amount paid in excess if he or she becomes so satisfied within 6 years after the end of the year in which that assessment was made.

102. Power of Commissioner in respect of small amounts -Despite anything in this Act, the Commissioner may refrain from issuing a notice of assessment or collecting or refunding tax in any case where either the balance of any tax payable does not exceed $1 or the tax paid or deducted exceeds the amount of the tax for which the taxpayer is liable by an amount not exceeding $1.

103. Relief from additional tax -(1) On application for relief made in writing by or on behalf of any taxpayer who has become liable for the payment of any additional tax under section 80, the Commissioner, if having regard to the circumstances of the case he or she thinks it equitable so to do, may, subject to the provisions of this section, grant relief to the taxpayer:

(a) by the remission of the whole or part of the additional tax; or

(b) where the additional tax has been paid in whole or in part, by the refund to the taxpayer of the whole or any part of that tax that has been paid, with or without the remission of any part of the additional tax that has not been paid.
(2) No amount of tax in excess of $400 shall be remitted or refunded under this section except with the approval of the Minister.

104. Relief in cases of serious hardship -(1) In any case where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner:

(a) that any taxpayer has suffered such loss or is in such circumstances that the exaction of the full amount of the tax has entailed or would entail serious hardship; or

(b) that, owing to the death of any person who if he or she had not died would have been liable to pay tax, the dependants of that person are in such circumstances that the exaction of the full amount of the tax has entailed or would entail serious hardship, he or she may, subject to the provisions of this section, release the taxpayer or the executor or administrator of the deceased taxpayer, as the case may be, wholly or in part from his or her liability, and may make such alterations in the assessment as are necessary for that purpose; and may, if the tax as previously assessed or any part thereof has been already paid, refund any tax paid in excess of the amount of the assessment as altered pursuant to this section.
(2) No amount of tax in excess of $400 shall be remitted or refunded under this section except with the approval of the Minister.

105. Appropriation of refunds -Any refund of tax under this Act may be made without further appropriation than this section and shall be statutory expenditure payable out of the Treasury Fund.

PART X

PENALTIES

Division 1
Prosecutions

106. Offences and Penalties -(1) A person who:

(a) refuses or fails to furnish any return or information as and when required by this Act, or by the Income Tax Act, or by the Commissioner; or

(b) wilfully or negligently makes any false return, or gives any false information, or misleads or attempts to mislead the Commissioner, in relation to any matters or thing affecting his or her own or any other person's liability to taxation; or

(c) prepares or maintains or authorises the preparation or maintenance of any false books of account or other records or falsifies or authorises the falsification of any books of account or records; or

(d) makes use of any fraud or deceitful or misleading art or contrivance whatsoever or authorises the use of any such fraud, art or contrivance, in relation to any matter or thing affecting his or her own or any other person's liability to taxation; or

(e) refuses or fails without lawful justification duly and punctually to attend and give evidence when required by the Commissioner, or to answer truly and fully any question put to him or her, or to produce any book or paper required of him or her; or

(f) obstructs any member of the Department acting in the discharge of his or her duties or in the exercise of his or her powers under this Act; or

(g) aids, abets, or incites any other person to commit any offence against this Act,-
Commits an offence and isliable to a fine not exceeding 5 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year, or both.
(2) A person commits an offence who:

(a) being an employer or other person by whom a source deduction payment is made to an employee, fails wholly or in part to make a tax deduction therefrom in accordance with his or her obligations under Part V; or

(b) knowingly applies or permits to be applied the amount of any tax deduction or any part thereof for any purpose other than the payment of the tax deduction to the Commissioner; or

(c) fails wholly or in part at or within the prescribed time and in any prescribed manner to pay to the Commissioner any tax deduction made by him or her; or

(d) makes a false or misleading tax code declaration, or gives any false information or misleads or attempts to mislead the Commissioner or any other member of the Department, or any employer or other person, in relation to any matter or thing affecting a tax deduction or a reduced deduction; or

(e) subject to section 46, delivers or maintains or attempts to deliver or maintain, in contravention of section 46(5), a tax code declaration or a special tax code certificate in respect of more than 1 employment, or otherwise obtains or attempts to obtain, in contravention of Part V, the benefit of a reduced deduction in respect of more than one employment; or

(f) alters any special tax code certificate issued by the Commissioner, or falsely pretends to be the employee named in any such certificate, or has in his or her possession, without lawful justification or excuse, a colourable imitation of any such certificate, or, in contravention of this Act, causes or attempts to cause any employer or other person to refrain from making a tax deduction, or to make a reduced deduction, by the production of any document other than a special tax code certificate issued to him or her by the Commissioner and in force; or

(g) alters any tax deduction certificate, or falsely pretends to be the employee named in any such certificate, or, in contravention of this Act, obtains or attempts to obtain for his or her own advantage or benefit credit with respect to, or a payment of, the whole or any part of the amount of a tax deduction made from a source deduction payment received by another person; or

(h) being an employer, fails to register with the Commissioner within the period prescribed by section 54;

(i) being an employer or other person by whom a payment of salary and wage income is made to an employee fails wholly or in part to make a salary and wage deduction therefrom in accordance with his or her obligations under Part V .
(3) A person who is convicted of an offence under subsection (2)(b)is liable to a fine not exceeding 5 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both.
(4) A person who fails to deliver personally or send by post any certificate, form or other document account or return within such time or times as may be prescribed by or under section 53,commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding $10, and a further fine not exceeding $1 for every day during which such failure shall continue:
PROVIDED THAT it is a defence to any prosecution under this subsection that any such failure was not due to the neglect or default of the defendant.
(5) Where an offence is committed by a company, every person who at the time of commission of the offence is a director, manager, secretary, or other officer of the company or is purporting to act in that capacity, commits the same offence unless he or she proves that the offence was committed without his or her knowledge or consent and also proves that he or she exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.
(6) The Commissioner may, with the concurrence in writing of the Attorney-General, compound any offence under this section in which case:

(a) if proceedings have already been instituted the Court shall, on the application of the Commissioner, stay the proceedings;

(b) the sum for which the offence is compounded is deemed to be tax assessed under this Act and recoverable as tax and all the other provisions, other than Part IV, apply accordingly;

(c) the person concerned is not liable to conviction in respect of that offence.
(7) A person who is convicted of an offence against this Act for which no other penalty is provided is liable to a fine not exceeding 5 penalty units.

107. When deduction deemed to be made and wrongly applied -Whenever under this Act any person has made a deduction from a source deduction payment, or payment of salary and wage income but has failed wholly or in part at or within the prescribed time and in any prescribed manner to pay the amount of the deduction to the Commissioner, the deduction shall be deemed to have been made at the same time as the payment of the net amount of the source deduction payment or payment of salary and wage income, and the amount of the deduction shall be deemed to have been applied for a purpose other than the payment thereof to the Commissioner if the amount of the deduction is not duly and punctually paid to the Commissioner:
PROVIDED THAT no person shall be convicted of an offence under section 106(2)(b) or be chargeable with penal tax under section 111(c) if he or she satisfies the Court or the Commissioner, as the case may be, that the amount of the deduction has been accounted for, and that this failure to account for it at or within the prescribed time was due to illness, accident or other cause beyond his or her control.

108. Proceedings for offences -All proceedings for offences against this Act shall be taken by way of prosecution and only upon the information of the Commissioner, or of some person authorised in writing by the Commissioner in that behalf; and the signature of the Commissioner to any warrant of authority under this section shall be judicially noticed.

109. Information may be laid within 10 years -Despite anything in any other Act or Ordinance any information in respect of any offence against this Act may be laid at any time within 10 years after the termination of the year in which the offence was committed.

110. Evidence of failure to furnish a return -In any proceedings against a person for refusing or failing to furnish any return or information as and when required by this Act or by the Commissioner, a certificate in writing signed by the Commissioner certifying that the return or information so required has not been received from that person at the place where or by the person to whom the return or information should have been furnished shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be sufficient evidence that the defendant has refused or failed to furnish the return or information.

Division 2
Penal Tax

111. Penal tax in case of evasion or default - Where:

(a) any taxpayer evades, or attempts to evade, or does any act with intent to evade, or makes default in the performance of any duty imposed upon him or her by this Act with intent to evade, the assessment or payment of any sum which is or may become chargeable against him or her by way of tax (which sum is hereinafter referred to as the deficient tax); or

(b) any employer or other person by whom any source deduction payment or payment of salary and wage income is made fails wholly or in part to make a deduction therefrom in accordance with his or her obligations under Part V ; or

(c) any person knowingly applies or permits to be applied the amount of any tax deduction or any part thereof for any purpose other than the payment of the tax deduction to the Commissioner; the taxpayer, employer or the person, as the case may be, shall be chargeable, by way of penalty for that offence, with additional tax (hereinafter called penal tax) not exceeding an amount equal to treble the amount of the deficient tax, or of the tax deduction not made or wrongly applied (both hereinafter in this Part referred to as the deficient deduction).

111A. Penal tax in the case of negligence -If any taxpayer carelessly or negligently:

(a) makes or suffers to be made any false returns; or

(b) gives or suffers to be given any false or misleading information to the Commissioner or any other officer,-
as a consequence whereof his or her liability for tax is under assessed the difference between the tax so assessed and the tax which ought to have been assessed (in this section referred to as the deficient tax) is chargeable, by way of penalty, with additional tax (which sum is hereinafter included in the expression "penal tax") not exceeding an amount equal to the deficient tax.

112. Nature of penal tax -Subject to this Part, penal tax is for all purposes deemed to be tax of the same nature as the deficient tax or the deficient deduction, and is deemed to be payable in and for the same year of assessment as the deficient tax or the deficient deduction.

113. Assessment of penal tax -(1) The penal tax shall be assessed by the Commissioner in the same manner, so far as may be, as the deficient tax or the deficient deduction but separately therefrom.
(2) The penal tax assessed in respect of a deficient deduction shall be assessed and treated in the same manner as if the person chargeable therewith were the taxpayer.
(3) An amount of penal tax may be amended in the same manner as any other assessment.

114. Objections to penal tax -Any assessment of penal tax shall be subject, in the same manner as any other assessment of tax, to objection on the ground that the person so assessed is not chargeable with penal tax, or on the ground that the amount so assessed is excessive having regard to the nature and degree of the offence or to the reason for the imposition of the penal tax, and notwithstanding that the amount so assessed is not in excess of treble the amount so assessed or is not in excess of treble the amount of the deficient tax or the deficient deduction, as the case may be.

115. Recovery of penal tax -An assessment of penal tax may be made and the tax so assessed is recoverable at any time, whether before or after the deficient tax or the deficient deduction has been assessed or has become assessable or payable or has been paid.

116. Recovery of penal tax from executors or administrators -(1) Penal tax shall be assessable against and recoverable from the executors or administrators of a deceased taxpayer, but, if so assessed, the amount thereof is recoverable only as a debt incurred by the deceased in his or her lifetime.
(2) No penal tax is recoverable from any person other than the taxpayer himself or herself, or his or her executors or administrators.

117. Recovery of penal tax not affected by conviction oftaxpayer -The assessment or recovery of penal tax in respect of any offence shall not be in any manner barred or affected by the fact that the taxpayer has been convicted under this Act of the same or any other offence; but no person who has paid the penal tax assessed against him or her for any offence shall be convicted of the same offence.

Division 3
Publicity

118. Publication of names of tax offenders -(1) The Commissioner may publish in the Gazette or in the Savali a list of persons who have been charged with penal tax under any provision of this Act.
(2) The Commissioner may, in his or her discretion, omit from any list published under this section any reference to any taxpayer to whom subsection (1) applies if the Commissioner is satisfied that, before any investigation or inquiry has been commenced in respect of the evasion of which the taxpayer is guilty, the taxpayer has voluntarily disclosed to the Commissioner or to any officer authorised by the Commissioner in that behalf complete information and full particulars as to the evasion.
(3) Every list published under this section shall specify:

(a) the name, address and occupation or description of the taxpayer;

(b) such particulars of the offence or evasion as the Commissioner thinks fit;

(c) the year or years in which the offence or evasion occurred;

(d) the amount or estimated amount of the income not disclosed or of the tax evaded;

(e) the amount (if any) of the penal tax imposed.

PART IX
GENERAL

119. Keeping of business records -(1) Subject to subsection (2),a person carrying on business or deriving income other than salary or wages shall keep sufficient records in the English or Samoan language to enable his or her exempt income, assessable income and allowable deductions to be readily ascertained by the Commissioner or any officer authorised by him or her in that behalf, and shall retain all such records so kept and all records relating to the business in existence at the date of the passing of this Act for a period of at least 12 years after the completion of the transactions, acts, or operations to which they relate.
(2) This section shall not require the retention of any records:

(a)in respect of which the Commissioner has notified the taxpayer in writing that retention is not required;

(b)of a company which has been wound up and finally dissolved.
(3) Subject to subsection (4), a person deriving income from business shall, if his or her residual assessable income from business in any preceding income year exceeded $1,200, issue a written receipt, and serially numbered, for every sum received in respect of goods sold or services performed in connection with that business and shall retain a duplicate of the receipt.
(4) Where a machine is used for recording sales, the Commissioner may authorise a person to carry on business without issuing a receipt under subsection (3) if the Commissioner is satisfied that:

(a) the machine automatically records all sales made; and

(b) the total of all sales made in each day is transferred at the end of the day to a record of sales.
(5) In this section, “records” includes books of account, recording receipts or payments or income or expenditure or purchases or sales, and also includes vouchers, invoices, receipts, and such other documents as are necessary to verify the entries in any such books of account and, in the case of an agent, records of all transactions carried out on behalf of his or her principal.
(6) A person who fails to comply with this section commits an offence.

120. Return of interest paid on deposits –A bank, local or public authority, or other company or person who in the course of business holds money by way of deposit and allows interest thereon shall, as required by the Commissioner, make a return of all interest so allowed during the year or other period to which the requisition of the Commissioner relates, together with the names, addresses, and occupations of the persons to whom such interest has been allowed.

121. Returns as to debentures and interest thereon –A company or local or public authority shall, as required by the Commissioner, make a return giving such particulars as the Commissioner requires relative to debentures issued by that company or local or public authority, the holders thereof, and the interest paid or payable thereon.

122. Regulations -The Head of State, acting on the advice of Cabinet, may make regulations for all or any of the following purposes:

(a) prescribing the functions and duties of members of the Department;

(b) prescribing the form of returns to be made under the Inland Revenue Acts, the particulars to be set forth in such returns, the persons by whom and the times when or within which such returns are to be made; and the forms of assessments, notices, and other documents referred to in the Inland Revenue Acts or necessary in order to give effect to the purposes of the Inland Revenue Acts;

(c) declaring any specified payments or class of payments to be included in or excluded from source deduction payments made under item 7 inSchedule 3.

(d) providing, where there is no provision in the Inland Revenue Acts in respect of any procedural matter necessary to give effect to any such Act, in what manner and form the procedural deficiency shall be remedied.

(e) providing for such other matters as are contemplated by or necessary for giving effect to the provisions of this Act and for its due administration.

123. Service of notices -(1) A document required or authorised to be served on or given or furnished to the Commissioner under any of the Inland Revenue Acts shall be sent by post to or left at the office of the Commissioner in Apia.
(2) A document required or authorised to be served on or given to any person by the Commissioner under any of the Inland Revenue Acts may be served or given by:

(a) delivering it personally to him or her; or

(b) leaving it at or sending it by post to his or her usual or last known business address (if any) or the address shown on the latest return of income furnished by him or her or on his or her behalf to the Commissioner.
(3) Where a document is served by post, service shall in absence of proof to the contrary be deemed to have been effected:

(a) if it is sent to any address (including a post office) within Samoa, 14 days after the date of posting, or on the day when it is actually delivered, whichever is the earlier; and

(b) if it is sent to any address (including a post office) outside Samoa, 21 days after the date of posting, or on the day when it is actually delivered, whichever is the earlier,-
and in proving service, it shall be sufficient to prove that the envelope containing the document was properly addressed and was duly posted.

124. Extending time for doing anything under Acts - (1) If anything required by or under any of the Inland Revenue Acts to be done at or within a fixed time cannot be or is not done, the Head of State, acting on the advice of Cabinet, may appoint a further or other time for doing the same whether the time within which the same ought to be done has or has not expired.
(2) Anything done within the time so prescribed shall be as valid as if it had been done within the time fixed by or under the Inland Revenue Acts.

125. Repeals and savings -(1) The following enactments are repealed:

(a) Income Tax Ordinance 1955;

(b) Ordinances Amendment Ordinance 1956;

(c) Income Tax Amendment Ordinance 1959;

(d) Income Tax Amendment Ordinance 1960;

(e) Income Tax Amendment Act 1965;

(f) Income Tax Amendment Act 1969;

(g) Income Tax Rate Act 1969;

(h) Income Tax Regulations 1956;

(i) Income Tax Regulations 1956 Amendment No.1.
(2) The provisions repealed shall continue to apply for all purposes whatsoever in respect of any tax whether already assessed or paid or still assessable or payable in or for the year ended 31 December 1974 or in or for any previous year.

SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE 1
(Section 2(1))

INLAND REVENUE ACTS

The Income Tax Administration Act 1974
The Income Tax Act 1974
The Income Tax Rate Act 1974
The Value Added Goods and Services Tax Act 1992/1993 except sections 13 and 14.

SCHEDULE 2
(Section 22)

DATES FOR FURNISHING RETURNS
OF INCOME BY CERTAIN TAXPAYERS

1. Dates by which taxpayers to whom section 22 applies are required to furnish annual returns of income
   

Month of Balance Date Date by which annual return of income to be furnished (being the date next succeeding the balance date)

January 30th day of April

February 31st day of May

March 30th day of June

April 31st day of July

May 31st day of August

June 30th day of September

July 31st day of October

August 30th day of November

September 31st day of December

October 31st day of January

November 28th day of February

December 31st day of March

2. Interpretation
   

For the purpose of Clause 1 of this Schedule the expression "balance date", in relation to income tax on income derived by any person in any year or other period, means the date of the annual balance of that person's accounts for that year or other period, being a year or other period in respect of which that person is required by this Act to furnish a return of income.

SCHEDULE 3

(Section 2(2))
SOURCE DEDUCTION PAYMENTS

Source deduction payments are payments of any of the following items of assessable income:

1. Emoluments.

2. Payments which are included in assessable income derived from Samoa by virtue of paragraphs (e), (f) and (g) of section 8 of the Income Tax Act.
   
3. Payments which are included in taxable income by virtue of sections 37, 38 and 39 of the Income Tax Act.
   

4. Commissions.

5. Directors' fees, jurors' fees, assessors' fees, witnesses' fees, and honoraria.
   
6. Payments in relation to motor vehicle (except taxi) and machinery hireage made by any trader, merchant, company, or public or local authority.
   
7. Any payment which is declared by regulation under this Act to be a source deduction payment.
   
8. Any payment or class of payments from which the employer is required by notice from the Commissioner to deduct and withhold any sum on account of any liability that may arise in respect of that payment.

REVISION NOTES 2008-2011

This Act has been revised under section 5 of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008.

This Act was not included in the consolidation of laws for 2007/8. This is why there are no revision notes for 2008.The consolidation and revision that should have been included for the Act in publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007 is noted in the REVISION NOTES 2008, No. 2:

(a) References to Western Samoa amended to Samoa in accordance with an amendment to the Constitution of Samoa in 1997.

(b) Fines amended to be stated in penalty units by the Fines (Review and Amendment) Act 1998.

(c) References to the male gender made gender neutral

(d) Amendments have been made to conform to modern drafting styles and to use modern language as applied in the laws of Samoa.

(e) Amendments have been made to up-date references to offices, officers and statutes.

(f) Insertion of the commencement date

(g) Other minor editing in accordance with the lawful powers of the Attorney General.

The following amendment was made to incorporate an amendment made by an Act of Parliament not noted in the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007 –

By the Income Tax Administration Amendment Act 2006

Section 81 - the figures “$25” and “$10” were deleted and substituted by “$300” and “$100” consecutively by section 2.

Note: References to the “Inland Revenue Department” have been retained, however these need to be amended in accordance with the Ministerial Departmental Arrangements Act 2003.

Other minor editing done in accordance with the lawful powers of the Attorney General in 2011:

(i) “Every” and “any” changed to “a” or “each” where appropriate
(ii) Present tense drafting style:

• “shall be” and “has been” changed to “is/are”
• “shall be deemed” changed to “is/are taken”
• “shall have” changed to “has”
• “hereby” and “from time to time” (or “at any time”, “for the time being” or “at all times”) removed

(iii) Offence provisions: “shall be guilty” changed to “commits”
(iv) Removal/replacement of obsolete and archaic terms with plain language: “notwithstanding” changed to “despite”
(v) Numbers in words changed to figures
(vi) Removal of superflous terms

• “the generality of”
• “of this Act/Ordinance” and “of this section”
• “and in relation to”
• “the provisions of”
  

There were no amendments made to this Act since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This Act has been consolidated and revised in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is the official version of this Act as at 31 December 2011. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Aumua Ming Leung Wai
Attorney General of Samoa

Revised and consolidated in 2008 by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel)

Revised in 2009, 2010 and 2011 by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Papalii Malietau Malietoa (Parliamentary Counsel).

Income Tax Administration Act 1974 is administered
by the Ministry for Revenue.