The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Multichoice Nigeria have in Abuja agreed to end the tax dispute that has led to a series of lawsuits.
Both parties are ending the disputes on the terms that Multichoice Nigeria withdraws all pending lawsuits against the agency, while FIRS may conduct a forensic system audit on all the company’s accounts.
Background To The Story
In April 2021, the FIRS issued Multichoice Nigeria a notice of assessment detailing the amount of tax owed to the Federal Government. The tax agency then demanded the sum of N1.82 trillion from the company. Later, in July 2021, FIRS appointed some commercial banks to redeem the N1.82 trillion from the accounts of MultiChoice Nigeria Limited and MultiChoice Africa following their continued refusal to grant FIRS access to its servers.
MultiChoice Nigeria, in response, appealed to the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) and served FIRS with several lawsuits at the federal high court.
Bottom line
With FIRS and Multichoice Nigeria agreeing terms, the tax dispute that has lasted for about 11 months is nearing an end.