Federal High Court Judgement on Gazprom V.FIRS
September 24, 2018
The Federal High Court has set aside the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) ruling of 2012 exonerating Gazprom Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited (Gazprom) from paying VAT on services supplied to it by non-resident entities. Gazprom had appealed to the TAT against VAT assessments served on it by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), resulting from payments by Gazprom to some non-resident consultants.
The Judgement
FIRS’s brief of argument was for the FHC to determine
“Whether in the light of the provisions of the Value Added Tax Act, the Honourable Tax Appeal Tribunal was right in holding that the Respondent ought not to have been held liable to pay VAT on the services it purchased/consumed from non-resident companies”
Gazprom on its part requested that the Court determines:
“Whether upon a proper construction of the VAT Act, the Tribunal rightly upheld the Respondent’s appeal to the effect that the Respondent is not liable to self-assess and remit VAT to the Appellant in respect of services received from outside Nigeria and provided by non-resident companies that were not carrying on business in Nigeria”