Text of ITO Section 173

Liability and obligations of representatives.

(1) Every representative of a person shall be responsible for performing any duties or obligations imposed by or under this Ordinance on the person, including the payment of tax.

(2) Subject to sub-section (4), any tax that, by virtue of sub-section (1), is payable by a representative of a taxpayer shall be recoverable from the representative only to the extent of any assets of the taxpayer that are in the possession or under the control of the representative.

(3) Every representative of a taxpayer who pays any tax owing by the taxpayer shall be entitled to recover the amount so paid from the taxpayer or to retain the amount so paid out of any moneys of the taxpayer that are in the representative’s possession or under the representative’s control.

(3A) Any representative, or any person who apprehends that he may be assessed as a representative, may retain out of any money payable by him to the person on whose behalf he is liable to pay tax (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “principal”), a sum equal to his estimated liability under this Ordinance, and in the event of disagreement between the principal and such a representative or a person as to the amount to be so retained, such representative or person may obtain from the Commissioner a certificate stating the amount to be so retained pending final determination of the tax liability, and the certificate so obtained shall be his authority for retaining that amount.

(4) Every representative shall be personally liable for the payment of any tax due by the representative in a representative capacity if, while the amount remains unpaid, the representative:

(a) alienates, charges or disposes of any moneys received or accrued in respect of which the tax is payable; or

(b) disposes of or parts with any moneys or funds belonging to the taxpayer that are in the possession of the representative or which come to the representative after the tax is payable, if such tax could legally have been paid from or out of such moneys or funds.

(5) Nothing in this section shall relieve any person from performing any duties imposed by or under this Ordinance on the person which the representative of the person has failed to perform.