While speaking shortly before the commencement of the session, Chairman of the Tribunal, Professor Bagoni A Bukar said that, the Tribunal is expected to treat seven cases during the sitting just as he lamented that, delay in the appointment of new members after the tenure expiration of the former Commissioners in 2016 until June 2018 resulted in having a backlog of cases before the Tribunal.
He disclosed that the Tribunal was empowered through relevant tax laws to treat matters and adjudicate disputes in tax matters.
According to him, the laws include; Companies Income Tax Act (CITA), Petroleum Profit Tax Act (PFTA), Personal Income Tax Act (PITA), Capital Gains Tax Act (CGTA), Stamp Duties Act (SDA), Value Added Tax Act (VATA), Taxes and Levies (Approved list for collection) Act.
The Tribunal Chairman further said that the Tribunal must determine cases brought before it on the basis of facts and law and the decisions must be reflective of the facts as presented.
Cases to be treated by the Tribunal include; Alind Nigeria Limited vs Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) slated for hearing, a motion for change of Counsel in Federal Inland Revenue Service vs Dureja Enterprises Hotel and another motion in a case between Federal Inland Revenue Service and Abbass Mohammed trading under the name and style of Focus Guest Inn.
Other cases include; Bauchi Investment Corporation, Micro Finance Bank Limited vs Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS vs Bauchi Investment Corporation, FIRS VS Felix Furniture Limited and Federal Inland Revenue Service VS Yankari Resort & Safari.
The North-East office of the Tax Appeal Tribunal covers Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states.