Business
Tax Evasion: MultiChoice Denies TAT Ordered It To Pay N900bn
MultiChoice Nigeria has denied the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) sitting in Lagos had compelled it to make payment of 50% of N1.8 trillion, being half of the disputed tax assessment which is under appeal.
The organisation however explained; “The directive issued by the TAT in accordance with paragraph 15(7) of the Fifth Schedule to the FIRS Establishment Act requires MultiChoice Nigeria to deposit with FIRS an amount equal to the tax paid by MultiChoice Nigeria in the preceding year of assessment or one half of the disputed tax assessment under appeal, whichever is the lesser amount plus 10%.
“The lesser amount is the tax paid by MultiChoice Nigeria in the previous assessed year which is substantially less than the disputed assessment.”
It said as a law-abiding corporate citizen, it will continue to engage constructively with FIRS in an attempt to resolve the matter.
GWG recalls Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, Director, Communications and Liaison Department of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), had said that the TAT ordered MultiChoice Nigeria to pay 50% of N1.8 trillion which FIRS determined through a forensic audit to be the amount in taxes that MultiChoice Nigeria failed to pay to the federal government.
According to Ahmad, the five-member TAT led by its Chairman, Professor A.B. Ahmed, issued the order following an application to it by the Counsel to FIRS.
The FIRS Counsel made the application under Order XI of the TAT Procedure Rules 2010 which enables a party to make an application at any stage of the proceedings. Counsel for FIRS drew the attention of the Tribunal to Paragraph 15(7) of the Fifth Schedule to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 and urge the Tribunal to direct Multichoice Nigeria Limited to deposit with the FIRS 50 per cent of the amount of the Assessment under Appeal as security and a condition that must be fulfilled before the prosecution of the Appeal brought before TAT.
In certain defined circumstances to which the Multichoice appeal fits, Paragraph 15(7) of the Fifth Schedule to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 (FIRS Act) requires persons or companies seeking to contest a tax assessment to pay all or a stipulated percentage of the tax assessed before they can be allowed to argue their appeal contesting the assessment at TAT.
Multichoice Nigeria Limited filed the matter at the Lagos TAT following its dispute over FIRS’ issuance of Notices of Assessment and Demand Note in the sum of N1, 822, 923,909,313.94k on 7 April 2021. The amount constitutes what the FIRS calculated as due in taxation to the Federal Government of Nigeria from Multichoice after an investigation over several months to determine the extent to which Multichoice has been evading taxes in Nigeria
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