The Tax Appeal Tribunal has dismissed the appeal brought before it by Multichoice Africa Holdings over the disputed $342million (about N194 billion) tax.
The court dismissed the appeal for lack of diligence and ordered the South African company to pay the $342 million tax assessment handed over to it by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
Multiple reports quoted Daily Post to have reported that Multichoice Africa Holdings, the parent company of Multichoice Nigeria, had taken the FIRS to court seeking to overturn the FIRS’ assessment of over $123.7 million in unpaid Value Added Tax (VAT).
But delivering judgment on the company’s appeal, the tribunal upheld the preliminary objection by FIRS.
Specifically, the Tribunal held that the South African company failed to comply with Order 3 Rule 6 of the Tax Appeal Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2021, which requires an appellant to deposit half of the assessed sum in dispute before being heard on appeal.
Besides, the appellant, according to the Tribunal, was required to provide an affidavit certifying the payment with its appeal, which it also failed to do.The said sum is to be paid as a security for the hearing of any tax appeal.
In dismissing the appeal, the Tribunal declared: “For an appeal against the tax authorities, the aggrieved individual will deposit 50% of the disputed sum into a designated account by the Tribunal before hearing as security for prosecuting the appeal”.
Multichoice Africa Holdings B.V. was served with a notice of unpaid VAT by the FIRS, but the firm rather than fulfill its tax obligations, challenged the assessment and filed an appeal with the tribunal against the FIRS.
The FIRS is likely to enforce the payment of $123.7 million in unpaid VAT by Multichoice Africa Holdings B.V., as well as $218 million in interest and penalties, for a total of over $342 million, the report added.
The FIRS had on June 16, 2021, issued a notice of assessment of overdue VAT to Multichoice Africa Holdings B.V.
Consequently, the South African corporation filed an appeal with the Tax Appeal Tribunal, claiming that the assessment was excessive.
Multichoice Africa Holdings, the parent company of Multichoice Nigeria, had evaded VAT since inception despite delivering services to its Nigerian arm.