A Tax Appeal Tribunal sitting in Lagos on Tuesday ordered Multichoice Nigeria Limited to pay 50 per cent of the N1.8tn which the Federal Inland Revenue Service determined to be the amount the company has evaded in tax payments.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Director, Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS, Abdullahi Ahmad.
The statement was titled, “Tax Evasion: Tribunal Orders DSTV To Pay 50% Tax Backlog Before Hearing Appeal”
It read in part, “A Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) ordered Multichoice Nigeria Limited, owners of popular cable television services, DSTV, to pay 50 per cent of N1.8 trillion which the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has determined through a forensic audit to be the amount in taxes that Multichoice Nigeria Limited had failed to pay to the Government of Nigeria in past assessment years.”
Recall that in July, the FIRS appointed some commercial banks to recover the sum of N1.8tn from Messrs MultiChoice Nigeria Limited and MultiChoice Africa.
The Service noted the appointment was necessitated by the group’s continued refusal to grant FIRS access to its servers for audit, the companies’ persistent breach of agreements and undertakings with the Service, under-remittance of taxes, among other things.
According to the statement, the five-member TAT led by its Chairman, Professor Ahmed, issued the order following an application to it by the Counsel to FIRS.
“The Counsel made the application under Order XI of the TAT Procedure Rules 2010 which requires Multichoice, or any other taxpayer who disputes their tax assessments, to make the statutory deposit required under Paragraph 15(7) of the Fifth Schedule to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 (FIRS Act) as 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,” the statement added.
The application by the Counsel to the FIRS was in response to a notice of appeal filed by Multichoice.
It read further, “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.
“At Tuesday’s hearing of the matter in Appeal No: TAT/LZ/CIT/062/2021 19/08/2021 (Multichoice Nigeria Limited v. Federal Inland Revenue Service), Multichoice Nigeria Limited amended its Notice of Appeal and thereafter sought through its Counsel, Bidemi Olumide of AO2 Law Firm for an adjournment of the proceedings to enable it to respond to the FIRS’ formal application for accelerated hearing of the appeal and prayer before the TAT to order Multichoice to produce DSTV’s revenue and subscriber database, among other prayers.
After hearing arguments from both sides, TAT upheld the FIRS Act and directed Multichoice Nigeria Limited to deposit with the FIRS the amount prescribed by the law, plus a sum equal to 10 per cent of the said deposit as a condition precedent for further hearing of the appeal.
The tribunal adjourned the Appeal to 23 September for the continuation of the hearing, subject to compliance with its order.
When contacted Multichoice Nigeria refused to comment.
Recall that the company announced the demise of its Chief Customer Officer, Mr Martin Mabutho yesterday.
The boisterous Mabutho died in the early hours of Tuesday, in Cape Town after a brief illness.
“Martin was not just a colleague but a very close friend and most trusted adviser. He was well loved by everyone for his energy and hard-work, his warmth, good humour and the creativity and positive attitude he always brought to the team. He will be greatly missed,” said John Ugbe, CEO, MultiChoice Nigeria.
Mabutho joined MultiChoice Botswana as a Customer Service Supervisor in 1999, and later became a Brand Manager at MNet in 2003. He led the Marketing and Sales effort for DStv Mobile in Sub-Saharan Africa before his appointment as MultiChoice Nigeria’s General Manager, Sales and Marketing in 2013.
He was appointed Chief Customer Officer in 2018, responsible for driving the MultiChoice Nigeria customer group strategy covering customer value management, sales, marketing, customer experience and care.
Aged 47, Mabutho is survived by aged parents, his wife Thato and their four children.
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