Income Tax (Petroleum) Act · 2022 Revised Edition · Part · Administration
4. Official secrecy
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
Every person having any official duty or being employed in the administration of this Act shall regard and deal with all documents, information, returns, assessment lists and copies of such lists relating to the income, chargeable profits or items thereof of any company as secret and confidential, and shall make and subscribe a declaration in such form as may be prescribed before the Collector.
person
“person” means any individual or group of individuals and any company, corporation or other body;
Every such person having possession of or control over any documents, information, returns or assessment lists or copies of such lists relating to petroleum operations or the amount and value of petroleum won by any company at any time otherwise than for the purpose of this Act or with the express authority of the Minister —
control
“control” means — (a) in relation to a body corporate, the power of a person to secure, by means of the holding of shares or the possession of voting power in or in relation to that or any other body corporate, or by virtue of any powers conferred by the articles of association or other document regulating that or any other body corporate, that the affairs of the first-mentioned body corporate are conducted in accordance with the wishes of that person; and (b) in relation to a partnership, the right to a share of more than one-half of the assets or of more than one-half of the income of the partnership;
communicates or attempts to communicate such information or anything contained in such documents, returns, lists or copies to any unauthorised person; or
suffers or permits any unauthorised person to have access to any such information or to anything contained in such documents, returns, lists or copies, is guilty of an offence.
Income Tax (Petroleum)
No proceedings for an offence against this section shall be taken save by the Collector with the sanction of the Attorney General or by the
Collector
“Collector” means the Collector of Income Tax appointed under section 3 and includes for all purposes of this Act, except the powers conferred on the Collector by sections 38, 39 and 42, a Deputy Collector so appointed;
Attorney General.
No person appointed under, or employed in carrying out, the provisions of this Act shall be required to produce in any court any return, document or assessment, or to divulge or communicate to any court any matter or thing coming under his notice in the performance of his duties under this Act except as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act, or in order to institute a prosecution, or in the course of a prosecution, for any offence under or in relation to tax imposed by this Act.
Where under any law in force in any territory outside
Brunei Darussalam provision is made for the allowances of relief from income tax and similar taxes in respect of the payment of income tax and similar taxes in Brunei Darussalam or for the exemption of income from income tax and similar taxes in respect of income subject to income tax and similar taxes in Brunei Darussalam, the obligation as to secrecy imposed by this section shall not prevent the disclosure to the authorised officers of the
Brunei Darussalam
“Brunei Darussalam” includes the submarine areas beneath the territorial waters of Brunei Darussalam and the submarine areas beneath any other waters over which the Government exercises or may hereafter exercise sovereign rights in respect of minerals;
Government in that territory of such facts as may be necessary to enable the proper relief or exemption to be given in cases where relief or exemption is claimed from income tax and similar taxes in Brunei Darussalam or from income tax and similar taxes in that territory.
Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the
Collector shall permit the Auditor or any officer duly authorised in that behalf by the Auditor to have such access to any records or documents as may be necessary for the performance of his official duties.
For the purposes of this section, the Auditor or any such officer is deemed to be a person employed in carrying out the provisions of this Act.
Terms defined in s 2
Brunei Darussalam
Defined · s 2“Brunei Darussalam” includes the submarine areas beneath the territorial waters of Brunei Darussalam and the submarine areas beneath any other waters over which the Government exercises or may hereafter exercise sovereign rights in respect of minerals;
chargeable profits
Defined · s 2“chargeable profits” means profits ascertained in accordance with the provisions of section 8 or 10A;
Collector
Defined · s 2“Collector” means the Collector of Income Tax appointed under section 3 and includes for all purposes of this Act, except the powers conferred on the Collector by sections 38, 39 and 42, a Deputy Collector so appointed;
company
Defined · s 2“company” means a company incorporated or registered in Brunei Darussalam under the Companies Act or under any law in force elsewhere, but does not include the company acting as a State Party in a petroleum mining Agreement in accordance with the Petroleum Mining Act;
control
Defined · s 2“control” means — (a) in relation to a body corporate, the power of a person to secure, by means of the holding of shares or the possession of voting power in or in relation to that or any other body corporate, or by virtue of any powers conferred by the articles of association or other document regulating that or any other body corporate, that the affairs of the first-mentioned body corporate are conducted in accordance with the wishes of that person; and (b) in relation to a partnership, the right to a share of more than one-half of the assets or of more than one-half of the income of the partnership;
person
Defined · s 2“person” means any individual or group of individuals and any company, corporation or other body;
petroleum
Defined · s 2“petroleum” means any mineral oil or relative hydrocarbon and natural gas existing in its natural condition and casing-head petroleum spirit but does not include coal or bituminous shales or other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distillation;
petroleum operations
Defined · s 2“petroleum operations” means searching for and winning or obtaining of petroleum in Brunei Darussalam by or on behalf of a company for its own account by any method or means in the course of a business carried on by a company engaged in such operations, and all operations incidental thereto, and the sale or disposal by such company or any other company carrying on business through a permanent establishment in Brunei Darussalam of petroleum so won or obtained, and includes the transportation within Brunei Darussalam by such companies of petroleum so won or obtained to any point of sale or delivery or export and any field process necessary to reduce petroleum so won or obtained to a marketable condition, but does not include — (a) any transportation of petroleum outside Brunei Darussalam; (b) any process of refining at a refinery; or (c) any dealings with products so refined;
Part
Imposition of Tax and Ascertainment of Chargeable Profits
Part
Ascertainment of Assessable Tax and Chargeable Tax
Part 5
Part
Returns
Part
Assessments
Part
Appeals
Part
Collection, Recovery and Repayment of Tax
Part
Offences and Penalties
Part