Fundamentals of Civil Liability of Tax Officials

According to the rules of jurisprudence, any damage caused by any person to another must be compensated. The narrations indicate that the Islamic State is obliged to compensate the damages caused by its agents to the others.  However, Direct Taxes Act considers any damages resulting from the intention, negligence and oversight of tax officials to be subject to civil liability. This approach does not match with the serious occupation of these agents and the auditing principles. Due to the fact that it is impossible to review all tax documents of business units in auditing and today reviewing all documents is an unprofessional act, so tax auditors are exposed to risks.  On the other hand, tax officials face a lot of legal questions. Violation of the directives and opinions of the Supreme Tax Council by the Court of Administrative Justice and the weak legal structure of the Tax Affairs Organization, deprive the possibility of creating a clear procedure in legal affairs and create many ambiguities for tax officials. And they have remained accountable, accordingly, to the taxpayers, civil liability based on some kind of fault in cases of malice, unforgivable negligence, and disregard to the explicit text of the law is appropriate.