Tax Appeal Tribunal Jurisdiction: Analitical Discuss on the Two Conflicting Decision of the Federal High Court

Abstract

An effective mechanism for the tax dispute resolution is one of the features of a good tax system as rightly put it by the National Tax policy that the tax appeal process is an integral and important part of the tax administration process, it shall therefore be the responsibility of tax authorities to ensure that the tax appeal process is easily accessible to taxpayers and all its processes and procedures simplified. Tax Appeal Tribunal was established by section 59 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act in order to ensure fairness and transparency of the tax system, minimize delays in the adjudication of the tax matters in our traditional Courts. However, the jurisdictional conflict cause by the two different decisions of the Federal High Courts over TAT seem to bring a set back on the tax appeals processes in Nigeria and pending the determination of the appellate Court over the jurisdictional issue, the fate of TAT is at stake.