From Magnus Eze, Enugu
The Tax Appeal Tribunal sitting in Enugu has cautioned tax authorities in the South East against arbitrariness in assessment of payers.
Chairman of the appellate tribunal in the zone, Chukwuemeka Eze, gave the admonition while ruling in disputes between the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (AiRS) and two banks; Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) and United Bank for Africa (UBA) respectively.
The tribunal upheld the bank’s appeal seeking to nullify the N473,315,327 Withholding Tax (WHT) remittance the state government slammed on it in 2018.
AiRS had issued assessment and demand notice on the UBA requesting it to remit the sum of N473,315,327 as withholding tax remittance liability for 2015, 2016 and 2017 tax years.
The financial institution had approached the Appeal Tribunal in 2019, after the state revenue service issued it a notice of refusal to amend the assessment insisting that the bank paid the sum as it demanded. UBA in its appeal, among other reliefs, asked the tribunal to invalidate the assessment for arbitrariness and lack of legal support.
The bank also prayed the tribunal to set aside the demand and amendment refusal notices, arguing that it was not liable to deduct and remit the amounts the tax set out therein. The five-man tax panel granted two of the three prayers sought by the UBA and struck out the remaining.