Collateral evidence can prove foreign tax assessment where a certificate is unavailable, preserving refund and interest entitlement.

Under the double taxation arrangement, entitlement to refund and interest under section 214 did not depend exclusively on producing a certificate of assessment from the Pakistani tax authorities. The article explains that the certificate was ordinarily the best evidence of foreign assessment and tax paid, but the provision did not make it the sole statutory mode of proof. Where the certificate could not be obtained, the assessee could establish the foreign assessment and payment through satisfactory collateral evidence, including assessment orders, demand notices and related records. On that basis, refund and interest could not be denied merely because the certificate was unavailable.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's entitlement to refund and interest under section 214 depended exclusively on producing a certificate of assessment from the Pakistani tax authorities, or whether other satisfactory collateral evidence could be accepted where such certificate could not be obtained.

Analysis: The arrangement for avoidance of double taxation required the tax demand to be kept in abeyance to the extent of the estimated abatement and provided for adjustment when a certificate of assessment from the other Dominion was produced. The provision did not impose an absolute statutory burden on the assessee to produce that certificate as the only means of proving foreign tax assessment. A certificate would ordinarily be the best evidence, but where it was impossible to obtain, the assessee could establish the foreign assessment and tax paid by other reliable material, such as copies of assessment orders, notices of demand, and allied records, for satisfaction of the taxing authority.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to prove the Pakistani assessment and tax payment by collateral evidence, and the claim to refund and interest could not be denied merely because the certificate of assessment was unavailable.

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