Analysis of the Method of Compensation for Losses in Iranian Tax Laws: VAT Law

Value-added tax (VAT), nowadays, is implemented, assessed, and collected in a large number of countries, and the implementation system of this type of tax in developed countries is such that transactions take place as much as possible online, and receiving tax and refunding the excess are done on the spot. In Iranian Taxation System, however, the delay of payments of the parties is one of the important issues wherein the law has used the hindering element of paying a fixed percentage as compensation to solve the problem, by which the important ambiguity or suspicion that these damages can be example of usury and akl-e bel-batil[1] is raised. On the one hand, the legislative parlance of the Islamic Republic of Iran considers taxes and their damages as debt, and according to the fiqhi principles, the suspicion of these debts as usury in compensating the damages of tax laws is seriously created. On the other hand, compensation of tax losses at a fixed rate often leads to the excess payment or receipt in favor of one of the parties, and this leads to akl-e bel-batil and the accumulation of invalid property as well as the expansion of the debts of individuals and National Tax Administration. Using various fiqhi-economic techniques, the present study believes the suspicion of usury of these damages and the suspicion of akl-e bel-batil of the property, and suggests that the above-mentioned excess payments or receipts mean gharar[2].