The Supreme Court has almost one-decade after affirmed an Court of Appeal judgement on $6.927,248m tax debt to Nigeria by an oil service firm, Halliburton West Africa Limited (HWAL).
The $6.9m is an additional assessment by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on HWAL’s revenue for 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999.
However, the firm challenged the sum, arguing that since its Nigerian subsidiary (Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Limited (HESNL) had been previously assessed, asking it to pay the additional sum amounted to double taxation.
In a unanimous decision, a five-man member panel of the Supreme Court held on Friday that the appeal filed by HWAL lacked merit.
It consequently threw out the matter and directed the firm to pay the $6.9m and N2m as cost to FIRS.