Tax Ombud urges Nigerians to challenge unfair taxes

Nigeria’s first Tax Ombud and Chief Executive of the Office of the Tax Ombud, Dr John Nwabueze, has urged Nigerians and businesses facing unfair tax assessments, multiple taxation and disputes with revenue agencies to seek redress through the newly established office. Nwabueze said the office was created to provide relief for taxpayers who had previously been left without an independent platform to challenge unfair treatment by tax and revenue authorities. Speaking at a breakfast meeting with finance correspondents and heads of newsrooms in Abuja on Tuesday, Nwabueze said, “So you can say that the Office of the Tax Ombud is the first-to-go place for any aggrieved taxpayer.” He said the office would serve as an independent and impartial institution for resolving complaints between taxpayers and revenue authorities through mediation, conciliation and alternative dispute resolution. According to him, taxpayers who disagree with tax assessments or actions taken by revenue agencies can now approach the office before seeking legal redress. He said, “Say they give you the assessment, like N200m, for instance, and you feel it is not up to that. Maybe your claim is supposed to be like N100m. So you come to us. We will look at your case. We now intervene. We will talk to the authorities. And at some point, there might be some kind of assessment review. And if it turns out that that is the case, then that is resolved.” Nwabueze explained that the office was not a court and would not replace the Tax Appeal Tribunal, but would provide a first layer of dispute resolution for taxpayers and revenue authorities. He said that where either party was dissatisfied with the outcome of the mediation process, the matter could still be taken to the Tax Appeal Tribunal. The Tax Ombud said the office had a wider mandate in Nigeria than similar offices in some other countries because it covered both tax and revenue-related complaints involving agencies such as the Nigeria Revenue Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigerian Ports Authority. Nwabueze said the office had already begun receiving complaints, including cases from the Niger State Internal Revenue Service and NIMASA, although he said the matters were still being reviewed. “We have a couple of cases that have come out from the state, one from Niger State Internal Revenue and one from NIMASA. And those ones were recent, and we are working on them,” he said. He added that the office would begin providing periodic updates on its activities, noting that media engagements