Ex-NBA President Floors FIRS As Court Sets Aside Judgment Ordering Him To Pay N248.5m Tax

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has set aside the judgement of the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) which ordered former Nigerian Bar Association president, Joseph Daudu SAN, to pay N248.5 million as tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS).

Recall that Mr Daudu had approached the TAT over a N1.2 billion tax error said to have been uncovered in his taxation by the FIRS and Joint Tax Board.

But the FIRS legal team argued before the Tribunal that its assessment of the lawyer’s tax responsibilities was in order.

In 2021, the Tax Appeal Tribunal in its verdict, agreed with FIRS by validating the Notices of Assessment in respect of Value Added Tax and Withholding Tax involving Daudu.

The Tribunal also added that the collaboration between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), the FIRS and the Joint Tax Board, including the notices of Assessment they issued against Daudu, was lawful.

It subsequently ordered that the senior lawyer was liable to pay Valued Added Tax and Withholding Tax amounting to N248.5 million.

Dissatisfied with the verdict of the Tribunal, Daudu asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to declare that the lower court’s decision was wrong because its findings were unconstitutional and premature.

The senior lawyer argued that the Tribunal failed to decline jurisdiction on issues bordering on his Personal Income Tax even when due diligence was not carried out on his tax duties.

Daudu argued, ” The Tax Appeal Tribunal erred in law when it held whilst validating the Notices of Assessment in respect of Value Added Tax and Withholding Tax that the collaboration between the EFCC and the Respondent was lawful and consequently the Notices of Assessment were also lawful.

“The Tax Appeal Tribunal Abuja further erred in law when it justified the admitted collaboration between the Respondent and the EFCC as a condition precedent to performing its tax assessment duties and by so doing put the cart before the horse and acted prematurely, unlawfully, and illegally.”

In his judgement on Tuesday, Justice Inyang Ekwo observed that the FIRS and the Joint Tax Board failed to establish that the ex-NBA president indeed earned taxable income or turnover for the relevant periods or establish the nature and value of the taxable services rendered by the appellant between 2010 and 2017.

Ekwo set aside the entire judgement of the TAT while overruling the Tribunal for not granting the lawyer a fair hearing on the matter.

“On the whole, I find that the failure of the Tribunal to observe the principle of fair hearing has the consequence of nullifying the entire proceedings and in fact has so done. By this conclusion, I make an order nullifying the proceedings of the TAT for not complying with the principles of fair hearing,” Ekwo added.