FG inaugurates new tax appeal tribunal commissioners

The Nigerian government has inaugurated new commissioners for
the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT).

At the ceremony in Abuja on Monday, Minister of Finance, Zainab
Ahmed, urged the commissioners to avoid unnecessary delays and
adjournment of cases and ensure their decisions are in line with
the Nigerian tax laws.

Mrs Ahmed further urged them to discharge their duties “with
high level of professionalism, integrity, diligence and fairness to
all parties.”

According to the minister, one of the outcomes of the series of
the tax reforms in Nigeria was the strengthening of the appeal
process and creation of the TAT by the Federal Government in
2010.

She described the establishment of the tribunal as a very
significant milestone in Nigeria’s tax dispute resolution
mechanism.

“One of the key objectives for setting up the tribunal was to
reduce incidences of tax evasion and improve other payers
confidence. Also to ensure fairness and transparency of tax
administration and to minimise delays and bottlenecks in the
adjudication of tax disputes.

“As an essential component of the ‘change’ agenda of the present
administration, Nigeria launched a Revised National Tax Policy in
January 2017 and provided tax amnesty platform through the
Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).

“Very fundamentally, the current tax policy of the government
places emphasis on areas of harnessing all necessary inputs towards
achieving voluntary tax compliance. We therefore urge you to ensure
quality service delivery in line with extant laws, particularly in
supporting the government’s quest to improve revenue generation and
minimise the monolithic dependence on oil revenue.”

She said the government has strengthened the tribunal by
ensuring it is constituted across the six geo-political zones in
addition to the ones in Lagos and Abuja “for ease and accessibility
by taxpayers.

“Additionally, we have also expanded the Lagos Tribunal to three
panels in order to facilitate the timely resolution of appeals
emanating from Lagos. Going forward, the government is working
towards the strengthening of the operations and legal framework of
the Tax Appeal Tribunal in line with the recommendation of the
National Tax Policy Review Committee.”

In his remarks at the event, the permanent secretary of the
Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, said the commissioners
would hold office for “a term of three years, which is subject to
renewal for another term of three years only.”

Mr Isa-Dutse said about 489 appeal cases had been filed with 409
concluded since the establishment of the tribunal in 2010.

He said 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.

“Amongst other things, it helps to reduce the caseload of the
over-laden regular courts by providing less formal fora for
quicker, cheaper and expert resolution of tax disputes in the
public interest.

According to Mr Isa-Dutse, TAT has the mandate to resolve
disputes arising from the operations of tax laws and regulations as
specified in the First Schedule to the FIRS (Establishment) Act,
2007:

The Tribunal was established in eight zones to cover the six
geo-political zones in Nigeria. The zones are Abuja, Lagos, North
Central (Jos), North East, (Bauchi), North West, (Kaduna), South
East, (Enugu), South South, (Benin), and South West, (Ibadan).

Each tribunal consists of a chairman and four other
commissioners. The commissioners inaugurated on Monday were the
second set since the establishment of the tribunal.