Miscellaneous

Any natural or legal person, or their legal representative, wishing to start a business or carry out a transaction may submit a written inquiry request to the tax administration before starting the intended business or before executing the transaction, in order to confirm the tax treatment for all taxes and fees administered by the Public Finance Directorate.

The inquiry request provided for in Article 26 of the Tax Procedures Law must meet the following conditions:

• It must be submitted before the event subject to inquiry is completed and must concern factual, not hypothetical, matters.
• It must be submitted by the concerned person or their legal representative.
• The question must address specific legal points related to a specific transaction.
• It must include all necessary elements and facts enabling the tax administration to take the appropriate decision regarding the tax treatment.

The inquiry request must include the following information:

• Name of the inquiry applicant, address, and chosen domicile.
• Tax number, if available.
• Clear identification of the subject of the inquiry, including, for example, the facts, type of transaction, related legal points, expected execution date, and expected cost.
• Identification of the parties concerned by the transaction or contract and their relationship to each other, with all supporting documents and legal power of attorney, if any.

Each inquiry request is subject to a fee, the conditions and amount of which are determined by a decree issued upon the proposal of the Minister of Finance.

The inquiry request is not accepted unless it is attached with a receipt proving payment of the required fee.

During its review of the request, the tax administration may ask the concerned person in writing for additional information or documents related to the subject of the inquiry. The concerned person must submit such information and documents within ten days from the date of the request; otherwise, the tax administration will respond to the taxpayer at the taxpayer’s responsibility based on the documents submitted, and will mention in its response the documents it requested but were not provided.

The tax administration must decide on the request and respond in writing to the concerned person’s questions within a maximum period of two months from the date of submission of the information and documents required to decide on the request, and must notify the result according to the notification procedures provided for by law.

The tax administration is bound by its response if the inquiry applicant complies with that response during implementation and if the response is based on clear and correct facts submitted by the concerned person.

If the tax administration later reviews and audits the taxpayer’s declarations and activities and finds that its response was not applied when the transaction subject to inquiry was executed, it may issue the required assessments and impose the applicable penalties if the taxpayer’s implementation was contrary to legal texts.

The taxpayer may object to these assessments according to the objection procedures provided for in Chapter 12 of the Tax Procedures Law.

Responses issued by the tax administration apply and are binding only with respect to the transaction that was the subject of the inquiry. These responses also remain subject to the laws in force on the basis of which they were issued, so the tax administration is released from its response if the legal text on which the response was based is amended.

Upon registration, the tax administration gives the taxpayer one tax number for all types of taxes, including customs and real estate fees.

1. The tax administration gives one personal tax identification number TIN:
   • To every natural person who submits a transaction to it, starts business individually or as a partner in a partnership, or contributes to or owns shares in a capital company.
   • To every employee practicing paid work. The registration obligation lies with the employer if the employer is resident, and with the employee when the employer is non-resident.
2. The tax administration gives a personal tax identification number TIN to the profession, establishment, company, or any other person, whether or not it has legal personality, when it has the status of an independent entity for tax purposes, such as a joint venture or de facto company, and issues them a registration certificate from the Ministry of Finance.
3. Every company, professional, or establishment must use its own TIN when dealing with others in that capacity. Every natural person must also present their own TIN when dealing with official departments.

Public administrations must provide the Public Finance Directorate with lists containing the names of their civilian workers, employees, contractors, daily workers, etc., and lists covering the appointment of new civilian workers or transfer of workers to another public administration, within a maximum period of one week from the date new workers start work.

These lists must include:

• Full name, first name, father’s name, family name, mother’s name.
• Date of birth, place of birth, registry number, registry place, identity card number.
• Date of start of work.
• Date of transfer.
• Personal address.
• Personal phone number.
• Worker status.

Public and private institutions, municipalities, unions of municipalities, bodies, associations, and all natural and legal persons must notify the tax administration of the names of all their workers according to the form prepared by the Ministry of Finance, within a maximum period of two months from the date of employment of each new employee.

Upon receiving such information, the tax administration must immediately assign each person a personal TIN and return to those public administrations, public institutions, and natural and legal persons a list of employee names including their personal tax numbers.

All public and private institutions, municipalities, unions of municipalities, bodies, associations, and all natural and legal persons must use their registration number with the Ministry of Finance on all documents they issue, and must use the registration numbers given by the Ministry of Finance to their employees and persons dealing with them in all their documents.

Decision 453/1 dated 22/4/2009

The person representing an incapacitated or absent person must notify the competent tax unit where the taxpayer was registered, or where the taxpayer was unregistered but falls within its jurisdiction, of the taxpayer’s death or change in status within two months from the date of the event. The representative must also submit a declaration for the tax due by the taxpayer for the period extending from the end date of the previous declared tax period until the date of the event, and pay this tax.

An absent or incapacitated person is every person for whom a judgment of absence or incapacity has been issued.

Decision 453/1 dated 22/4/2009

Subject to the provisions relating to installment payment of inheritance duty contained in Legislative Decree No. 146/59, the taxpayer may submit to the tax administration a request to pay additional tax due in installments, regardless of its type, except for withholding taxes, value added tax, and indirect taxes, provided that the amount requested for installment payment exceeds LBP 1,000,000 for individuals and LBP 3,000,000 for companies.

Subject to the authority of the Director General of Finance to issue a decision setting the conditions required for approving tax installment requests, the procedures for processing these requests are determined as follows:

1. The taxpayer or their representative submits a written request for installment payment of tax to the competent Collection Department or to taxpayer service sections in districts, according to a form prepared by the Ministry of Finance, indicating the taxpayer’s name, tax number, full address, total amount requested for installment payment, and type of tax.
2. The tax installment request must be attached with:
   • An undertaking by the concerned person, according to a form prepared by the Ministry of Finance, to visit the competent Collection Department to receive the administration’s decision at the end of the specified legal deadline.
   • Copy of the legal power of attorney, where required.
   • Copy of the tax notice.
   • Documents proving ownership of movable or immovable assets and their values, provided that they are at least equal to twice the value of the tax requested for installment payment, selected by the taxpayer for the purpose of placing the installment notation.
   • Copy of the commercial circular or commercial register for companies, if any.
3. The competent Collection Department receives the tax installment request with the documents listed above and registers it in a special information system maintained for installment requests.
4. The concerned person or their representative receives a receipt issued by the competent Collection Department showing the receipt number and date and the date of the next review, set at ten working days after the request submission date, to receive the administration’s decision.
5. The competent Collection Department studies the request and refers it, with its reasoned proposal for acceptance or rejection, to the head of the tax administration through the administrative hierarchy, attached with a statement of the taxes and fees due from the taxpayer up to the date of submission of the request, stating the type, number, and date of the assessment document.
6. The head of the tax administration submits the request to the Director General of Finance with a reasoned proposal for acceptance or rejection.
7. The Director General of Finance decides on the installment request and returns it to the competent Collection Department.
8. After being notified of the acceptance or rejection of the installment request, the competent Collection Department shall do the following:
   1. In case of rejection:
      Notify the taxpayer personally of the rejection decision and its reasons.
   2. In case of approval:
      • Notify the taxpayer personally of the decision accepting the installment request immediately upon receiving the decision.
      • Prepare the installment program: first payment amount, installment period, interest rate, number of installments, and value of each installment, provided that the installment period does not exceed three years, within two working days from the date the taxpayer is notified of the acceptance decision.
      • Enter the information included in the request into the information system for installment requests to manage its operations.
      • Issue an installment statement, according to a form prepared by the Ministry of Finance, signed by the taxpayer as approval, along with the collection notice for the first payment and collection notices for the remaining installments.
      • Place an installment notation on the taxpayer’s movable and immovable assets for an amount equal to at least twice the value of the tax under installment payment.

Taxpayer Obligations

1. Receive the collection notice for the first payment and pay its amount within one week from the date of notification, provided that this does not go beyond the end of the month in which the installment plan was approved, at the treasury cash desk, at a bank or one of its branches, at a LibanPost office, or at any other company contracted by the Ministry of Finance for this purpose. The taxpayer must deliver the administration’s copy of the collection notice to the Collection Department, receive the installment statement and collection notices for the remaining installments, and sign the statement as acknowledgment of acceptance and receipt.
2. Pay the remaining installments on the dates specified in the installment schedule, under penalty of all installments becoming due.
3. In cases where a reduction of penalties is in force, the taxpayer benefits from the settlement provided that the first payment of the tax under installment is paid within the deadline specified for reducing penalties.

If the taxpayer fails to pay any installment on its due date, all installments become due with their interest up to the due date of the unpaid installment. A collection penalty is imposed on the full amount due, including interest accrued up to the due date of the installment the taxpayer failed to pay, starting from the due date of that installment until the actual payment date, while the taxpayer retains the right to the penalty reduction previously obtained based on the text in force on the installment date.

The concerned Collection Department is responsible for:

• Recording the installment request number and approval date on the electronic copies of assessment documents.
• Reducing the amount of tax under installment from the amounts due from the taxpayer in the taxpayer’s account.
• Preparing a special status for installment amounts for each tax separately, specifying the total installment amounts, amounts paid from them, and remaining amounts under collection.

Placing an Installment Notation

Immediately after issuing the installment statement, the competent Collection Department must request, by letter, that the General Directorate of Real Estate Affairs place an installment notation for an amount equal to twice the installment amounts on specific properties owned by the taxpayer according to the order specified by the taxpayer in the tax installment request.

Immediately after issuing the installment statement, the competent Collection Department must also request that the Commercial Register place an installment notation on the taxpayer’s commercial register, if any, for an amount equal to at least twice the installment amounts.

The General Directorate of Real Estate Affairs and the competent Commercial Register Secretariat notify the Collection Unit of the placement of the notation by letter, which is added to the installment file.

When all due installments are paid, the Collection Department sends a letter to lift the installment notation to the General Directorate of Real Estate Affairs or to the competent Commercial Register Secretariat.

If the taxpayer requests to pay the entire remaining balance in one payment, a collection receipt is issued for the value of the principal amount due, plus the interest due for the period extending from the date of payment of the last installment until the actual payment date, with any fraction of a month considered a full month.

The competent Collection Department places an installment notation on movable and immovable assets as stated above for installment requests approved before the publication date of Decision No. 453/1.