A tax assessment and its review
The Law Office of Ali Barakat in Baghdad follows an income-tax assessment and its review before the General Commission of Taxes (الهيئة العامة للضرائب), then before the audit committee (لجنة التدقيق) — the committees that hear appeal cases — and then, in the cases Article 40 of Income Tax Law No. 113 of 1982, as amended, provides for, before the special cassation body. The text sets out the path and the time limits. Real-estate tax on a sale or a mortgage belongs to sale, lease and the recording of title, where its own rules are set out.
What is the legal basis?
The source is Income Tax Law No. 113 of 1982, as amended, published in the Official Gazette, issue 2917 of 27/12/1982. The Law has been amended by later texts, some of which appear in the Database footnotes. The articles on objection, appeal and cassation set out below follow the text displayed in the Database on 13/11/2026. The General Commission of Taxes is the body that issues assessments, collects tax and hears the objection at the first stage. It is a formation attached to the Ministry of Finance.
This Law governs income tax on persons, including companies within the limits of its application. Tax rates and the amounts of allowances are read from the text in force, and may be carried in instructions that change. The page identifies the path rather than serving as a rate table. A tax clearance for a company or a branch is connected with this field, and is mentioned as an administrative request before the Commission, without a step-by-step account beyond the Commission's instructions in force.
How is income assessed?
After the period appointed for filing returns under Article 27 has expired, the financial authority examines the returns filed with it. It may accept them and assess the tax accordingly, or refuse them and assess the tax on the income it determines from the information it is able to gather, under Article 30. If a person has not filed a return and the financial authority believes that the person is subject to tax, it may assess that person’s income and impose the tax. That assessment does not lift the taxpayer’s responsibility for failing to file the return in time.
Tax is assessed on the person subject to it in the office of the tax assessor in whose area the taxpayer’s residence or place of work lies, under Article 31. If the person carries on business in places that fall under different offices, the tax is assessed in the office of one or more assessors, as the financial authority decides. The Minister, or a person authorised by the Minister, may direct that the taxpayer be assessed in the office of another assessor.
The financial authority must assess the tax on the basis of actual income. It may reassess a person whose income was previously assessed at less than its true amount if material facts appear, including a written report, for the past five years excluding the year of assessment, under Article 32. A person whose income has not been assessed may be assessed from the date the income arose. Failure to notify the persons concerned does not affect the financial authority’s right to reassess.
Notices and forms are served in one of two ways under Article 42: delivery to the addressee in person, or to that person’s employees at the place of work, or to a member of the family living with the addressee, in accordance with the legal rules of service; or sending them by registered post to the address registered with the financial authority. If they are sent by registered post, a person resident in Iraq is treated as served fourteen days after the date of registration, and a person resident outside Iraq is treated as served sixty days after that date, on the conditions set out in the Article.
The financial authority must notify the taxpayer in writing to pay the tax, stating its amount and the date it falls due. The taxpayer’s signature on the assessment memorandum is treated as notification to pay, under Article 44. If the tax is not paid within twenty-one days of notification under Article 44, an additional amount is added as Article 45 provides. The Minister, or a person authorised by the Minister, may exempt from that additional amount, or repay it, in cases of absence from Iraq, incapacitating illness, or other force majeure.
Objection before the Commission, then appeal to the audit committee
After the taxpayer has been notified of the assessed income and the tax arising on it, the taxpayer may file a written objection with the financial authority that served the assessment, or with any office of the General Commission of Taxes, within twenty-one days of the date of notification, stating the grounds of objection and the amendment sought. The taxpayer must produce the books, records and data needed to prove the objection, under Article 33. The financial authority may accept an objection after that period has expired if it is satisfied that the objector was unable to file it because of absence from Iraq, incapacitating illness, or other force majeure.
An objection is not considered unless the taxpayer pays the assessed tax during the objection period. If the taxpayer is unable to pay the assessed tax in full, the financial authority, after being satisfied of that inability, may collect it in instalments in accordance with instructions issued by the Ministry of Finance, having regard to Article 46 of the Law.
If the objector and the financial authority reach agreement on the assessment of income, or if the objection is filed after the statutory period and the financial authority does not agree to extend it, the assessment becomes final and is not open to objection, under Article 34.
A person whose objection to the amount of income or tax has been rejected by the financial authority may appeal that decision to the audit committee, by a petition filed with the committee or with any office of the General Commission of Taxes, within twenty-one days of the date of notification of the rejection, and must support the appeal with documents, records and other data, under Article 35. The financial authority may accept an appeal after the statutory period in cases of absence, incapacitating illness or other force majeure, if the request is made without unreasonable delay. The appeal committee must not continue the appeal if it appears that the taxpayer has fallen behind on instalments of assessed tax that were allowed to be paid by instalments, unless the taxpayer first pays those instalments.
The appellant and the financial authority are notified of the hearing date before the audit committee at least seven days in advance, under Article 36. The parties must attend in person or send an agent, or state that they rely on the written submissions already filed. The committee may cancel, confirm, increase or reduce the assessment, stating its reasons in the decision. It may also confirm the assessment if neither party, or one of them, fails to attend without a legitimate excuse, or it may adjourn the appeal for such period as it considers appropriate.
The committees that hear appeal cases are formed by a statement issued by the Minister in the Official Gazette, chaired by a judge of at least the second class, with two officials specialised in financial matters as members, under Article 37. Alternate members are appointed on the same conditions to sit in place of the original members when they are absent. The appeal committee formed in Baghdad must hear cases that fall within the work of another committee if the appellant so requests. The Minister, or a person authorised by the Minister, may transfer any appeal from one committee to another, with or without a request from the appellant, if there are grounds for doing so, under Article 38.
These committees hear and decide everything connected with the assessment of income, its liability to tax, refunds and allowances. The financial authority must implement the decisions after they have been notified to it and to the taxpayer, under Article 39.
A step-by-step account of this path, from notification to the committee’s decision, is also set out in objecting to an income-tax assessment.
When may a committee decision be challenged before a cassation body?
Decisions of the appeal committees are final if the amount of tax in the decision is ten thousand dinars or less, under Article 40. If the amount of tax in the decision is more than ten thousand dinars, the financial authority and the taxpayer may challenge it within fifteen days of notification, before a special cassation body formed under the chairmanship of a judge of the Court of Cassation, with two directors-general from the Ministry of Finance, one member from the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce and one member from the Iraqi Federation of Industries, by a statement issued by the Minister and published in the Official Gazette. The cassation body may cancel, confirm or amend the decision, and its decision is final. A taxpayer who wishes to challenge a decision of the appeal committee by cassation must pay a charge to the fund of the General Commission of Taxes at the rate Article 40 fixes. The charge is treated as final revenue of the public treasury. The charge is read from the text of the Article when the challenge is filed.
What does the office follow?
From its premises in Baghdad, the office explains the nature of an income-tax assessment, the time limit for a written objection before the General Commission of Taxes or one of its offices, the condition that the objection is considered only if the tax is paid or instalments are allowed under Article 33, an appeal against a rejection to the audit committee, and a challenge before the special cassation body when the Law allows it.
| Step | Time limit | Where it is filed |
|---|---|---|
| Objection to the assessment | 21 days from notification | The financial authority that served the assessment, or any office of the General Commission of Taxes |
| Appeal against rejection of the objection | 21 days from notification of rejection | The audit committee, or any office of the Commission |
| Notice of the hearing before the committee | At least seven days before the date | The appellant and the financial authority |
| Challenge to the committee’s decision (if the tax in the decision exceeds the threshold in Article 40) | 15 days from notification of the decision | The special cassation body |
| Payment of tax after the payment notice | 21 days from notification under Article 44 | The financial authority |
Legal basis and sources
Frequently asked questions
Is an oral objection to an assessment enough?
No. Article 33 requires a written objection within twenty-one days of notification, stating the grounds and the amendment sought, and producing the books and data required.
Is an objection considered without payment of the assessed tax?
In principle, no. Article 33 provides that an objection is not considered unless the taxpayer pays the assessed tax during the objection period. Instalments may be allowed if the financial authority is satisfied that the taxpayer cannot pay in full, in accordance with Ministry of Finance instructions.
What is the difference between an objection and an appeal under this Law?
The objection is filed with the financial authority, or with an office of the Commission, within twenty-one days of notification of the assessment. If it is rejected, an appeal may be taken to the audit committee within twenty-one days of notification of the rejection.
Is every decision of the audit committee open to challenge before the cassation body?
No. Article 40 makes committee decisions final if the amount of tax in the decision is ten thousand dinars or less. If the amount exceeds that figure, a challenge may be filed within fifteen days before the special cassation body.
Topics in this area
- 01Objecting to an income-tax assessment in IraqObjection, appeal and cassation of an income-tax assessment under Law 113/1982: 21 days to object, payment during that period, and the appeal committee.
- 02Income tax on non-residents and payments made outside IraqWho counts as resident and who as non-resident under Income Tax Law No. 113 of 1982, how a non-resident is taxed on Iraqi-source income through an agent or manager, and what an Iraqi payer must do when it pays someone abroad.
- 03A company's and a foreign branch's tax file, and tax clearanceWhat Income Tax Law No. 113 of 1982 requires of an Iraqi company and of a foreign company's branch once registered: the annual return, withholding on staff pay, when tax clearance is actually demanded, and why it is not demanded at incorporation.