Amendment of an Assessment
22.14. Section 170 of the Act contains a general power for the amendment of assessments by the Commissioner. The limits imposed by the section have no application where the Act makes provision for the amendment of assessments in specific cases (see section 170A). Aside from the cases of fraud or evasion, or where there has not been a full and true disclosure of all the material facts necessary for the assessment, no amendment may be made either to increase or reduce the liability of the taxpayer except to correct an error in calculation or a mistake of fact. No such amendment may be made after the expiration of three years from the date when the tax became due and payable under the assessment, except where the taxpayer has applied for the amendment of his assessment within that period and has supplied to the Commissioner within that period all the information needed by the Commissioner for the purpose of deciding the application. Subsection (9) of section 170 provides that, where an assessment includes an estimated amount of income from an operation or series of operations extending over more than one or parts of more than one year and where owing to that fact the profit or loss was not ascertainable at the end of the relevant year of income, at any time within three years after ascertaining the total profit or loss actually derived the Commissioner may amend the assessment to ensure its completeness and accuracy.
22.15. It has been submitted that a taxpayer who makes application for amendment of his assessment in these cases
should have the right to lodge an objection if the Commissioner fails to accede to his application. The Committee is
of the opinion that, where the taxpayer requests amendment of an assessment under section 170 (9)and supplies all the
information necessary for amendment within some specified time, he should have the same rights of objection and appeal
as are available in respect of an assessment. The right of objection should be allowed against a refusal by the
Commissioner to amend, which should be notified, or against the amendment so made, even if it reduces the tax payable.
The Committee does not recommend that this right of objection and appeal should be extended to amendments of
assessment under
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other sub-clauses of section 170. To do so would seriously impair administration of the
Act and virtually give unlimited opportunity to dispute an assessment any time in the period of three years after its
due date for payment.