2013-UNAT-355

2013-UNAT-355, Johnson

UNAT Held or UNDT Pronouncements

UNAT considered an application of the Secretary-General for interpretation of judgment No. 2012-UNAT-240. UNAT held that the application did not fulfil the requirements of Article 11 of the UNAT Statute and was therefore manifestly inadmissible. UNAT held that the judgment clearly stated that the utilisation of foreign tax credits constituted a reimbursable payment method and the tax unit had calculated the relevant reimbursable amount at USD 15, 239. UNAT rejected the Secretary-General’s application and ordered the Secretary-General to pay Ms Johnson USD 15,239 with interest, stating that the interest rates disposed of Ms Johnson’s request for costs.

Decision Contested or Judgment Appealed

ICAO Decision: Ms Johnson contested the decision not to reimburse her for the tax credit she used in 2009. The Tax Unit denied the request, claiming that her use of the tax credit had reduced her tax liability balance to zero, thus she had no outstanding balance. UNDT found that the use of foreign credits by US taxpayers constituted a payment method and should have been recognised as such. UNDT ordered the Secretary-General to refund Ms Johnson the amount of her staff assessment on her salary and emoluments for 2009, without taking into account the foreign tax credits in dispute. In Judgment No. 2012-UNAT-240, UNAT upheld the UNDT Judgment.

Legal Principle(s)

An application for interpretation can only succeed if it fulfils the strict and exceptional criteria established by the UNAT Statute, Article 11.

Outcome

Revision, correction, interpretation or execution

OAJ prepared this case law summary for informational purposes only. It is no official record and should not be relied upon as an authoritative interpretation of the Tribunals' rulings. For the authoritative texts, please refer to the judgment or order rendered by the respective Tribunal. The Tribunals are the only bodies competent to interpret their respective judgments, as provided under Article 12(3) of the UNDT Statute and Article 11(3) of the UNAT Statute. Any inaccuracies in the publication are the sole responsibility of OAJ, which should be contacted directly for any correction requests. To provide comments, don't hesitate to get in touch with OAJ at oaj@un.org.

The judgment summaries were generally prepared in English. They were translated into French and are being reviewed for accuracy of the translation.

Full Judgment

Applicants/ Appellants

Johnson

Entity

UNDP

Case Number(s)

2013-434

Tribunal

UNAT

Registry Location :

New York