The Limits of the Legislature's Authority to Amend Tax Legislation and Its Impact on Achieving Legal Certainty for the Taxpayer

Abstract

This study aimed to examine and evaluate the limits of the legislature's authority to amend tax legislation and its impact on achieving legal certainty for taxpayers in Jordan, in light of successive amendments and the lack of legislative stability resulting from fiscal policy fluctuations. The importance of the study lies in its attempt to strike a fair balance that protects established financial positions of investments against unexpected amended provisions and deviating explanatory regulations. It targets measuring the effectiveness of preventive administrative safeguards—such as the right to notification and interpretation—while highlighting the crucial remedial role of the constitutional and judicial courts in extending legal certainty. The study adopted an integrated approach, combining a descriptive-analytical method for legal provisions with an applied approach analyzing decisions from both the Constitutional Court and tax courts. The main findings highlight the Constitutional Court's decisive stance in halting the retroactive effect of tax regulations. Accordingly, the study recommended the necessity of legislative intervention to grant taxpayers a mandatory period of no less than ninety days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette before substantive amendments take actual effect, alongside curbing legal deviation and activating advance tax rulings.