Rethinking tax dispute strategy amid taxpayers’ low win rate

By

Benedict Kombaha

Tax Supervisor

KPMG Tanzania

“A tax assessment is not the end of the Argument, it may be the beginning of the Dispute”. This adage is evident when one assesses taxation events in Tanzania. For instance, the 2024/2025 report of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) shows that a total of one thousand two hundred and twenty-three (1,223) tax cases valued at TZS 4,862,507,875,014 are pending before the Appellate Machinery i.e., Tax Revenue Appeals Board (“TRAB”), Tax Revenue Appeals Tribunal (“Tribunal”) and Court of Appeal (“Court”). All of these pending tax cases were once adjusted tax assessments issued by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).