Commissioner General of Inland Revenue vs. Ceylon Shell Flour Ltd – sllr 2020 volume 3 page 028

In the case between Commissioner General of Inland Revenue and Ceylon Shell Flour Ltd, the court addressed the issue of whether a tax assessment for the year 2006/2007 was time barred under the amended provisions of the Inland Revenue Act and whether the production of coconut shell flour qualified as an “agricultural undertaking” exempt from tax. It was held that the amended extension of the time bar period applied retrospectively to procedural matters, thereby validating the assessment, and that coconut shell flour did not satisfy the requirements for exemption as an agricultural product under section 16(2)(b) of the Act. The decision reaffirmed the principle that procedural amendments to tax statutes can have retrospective effect unless they affect substantive rights, and clarified the c