Pending exemption application bars coercive tax recovery until the tribunal decides the statutory request.

Coercive recovery based on an assessment order under challenge was held improper while the statutory appeal and exemption application remained pending before the Tribunal. Because the Tribunal had not become functional and the exemption request was still undecided, the respondents could not proceed with recovery or cancel the exemption certificate. The proper course was to await a decision on the exemption application before taking any enforcement action. The operative effect was a restraint on coercive recovery and related steps until the Tribunal determined the pending request for exemption from payment of tax.

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Issues: Whether coercive recovery of the assessed tax and cancellation of the exemption certificate could be permitted when the petitioner's application for exemption from payment of tax under the pending statutory appeal was still awaiting decision by the Tribunal.

Analysis: The recovery notice was founded on the assessment order already under challenge in appeal, and the second appeal with the accompanying exemption application was pending before the Tribunal. The Tribunal was not functioning because the notification required to make it operational had not been issued. In that situation, the respondents could not be allowed to enforce recovery proceedings or take steps for cancellation of the exemption certificate while the statutory request for exemption remained undecided. The proper course was to await the Tribunal's decision on the exemption application.

Conclusion: Coercive recovery and related action were restrained until the Tribunal decided the application for exemption from payment of tax.

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