The newly inaugurated Tax Appeal Tribunal yesterday began sitting on
tax-related cases, warning that it would not tolerate any delay
tactics during adjudication of tax disputes.
The Tribunal, it would be recalled was established pursuant to Section
59 (I) and the Fifth Schedule of the Federal Inland Revenue Service
(Establishment) Act, 2007.
The Tribunal, which was inaugurated by the Minister of Finance, Mrs.
Zainab Ahmed, on November 5 was specifically set up to adjudicate on
all disputes arising from operations of the Companies Income Tax Act,
Petroleum Profit Tax Act, Capital Gains Tax Act, Stamp Duties Act,
Value Added Tax, Taxes and Levies among others.
Presently, it had about 209 cases that are pending at the various Tax
Appeal Tribunals across the country.
The monetary value of the pending 209 cases across the six
geo-political zones of the Tax Appeal Tribunal is $18.80bn, N205.65bn
and €0.821m based on figures provided by the ministry of finance.
The pending cases involved multinational companies, while the issues
for determination are highly technical and painstaking.
The Tribunal is one of the windows provided in Nigeria’s tax
administration system which offers an aggrieved party the opportunity
to explore other dispute resolution mechanisms before gaining access
to the Law Courts.
Among other things, it helps to reduce the caseload of the over-laden
regular courts by providing less formal for quicker, cheaper and
expert resolution of tax disputes in the public interest.
