Time Travel by the Tax Administration!

Through Directive No. 200/24262/S dated March 16, 2024 (1402/12/26 in the Iranian calendar), the Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA) directly tasked bank branches with the responsibility of calculating and deducting inheritance tax from the bank deposits of deceased individuals.

The key issue here was that the formula provided in this directive completely ignored the legal tax exemptions that might apply to portions of the funds in the deceased's account.

This contradiction with the law led to a complaint filed at the Administrative Court of Justice (Note: This is the supreme judicial body in Iran responsible for hearing citizens' grievances against government regulations and decrees). After reviewing the case, the Specialized Board of the Court confirmed and validated this illegality.

But here is the interesting part: In a preemptive move, just before the General Board of the Administrative Court of Justice could issue the final ruling to officially annul the directive, the Tax Administration issued a new directive (No. 200/8244/S dated August 3, 2025). This new directive declared the previous one "null and void from the date of its original enactment."

As a result, the Administrative Court of Justice officially closed the case based on Article 85 of the Court's Law (which states that if the issuing authority voluntarily revokes the challenged regulation, the judicial review process is dismissed). In this way, by essentially "traveling in time," the Tax Administration retroactively erased a directive from inception—even though it had been actively enforced on the public for about a year and a half!

Written by Reza Bastani Namaghi