Facts:

The Appellant is a company incorporated in Nigeria with its registered office at 11 Babafemi Osoba Crescent, Off Admiralty Road, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos. Its principal activity is the provision of oilfield services, products, technology and systems to companies engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas while the Respondent is the body responsible for the administration and collection of taxes due to the government of Delta State. The Appellant’s contention is that Section 2 of the Personal Income Tax Act 2011 (as amended) (PITA) provides that the relevant tax authority of a State has the power to collect income tax from individuals resident within the State. There is nothing in the law that grants the Respondent the power to impose Personal Income Tax on individuals who are resident in another state. In view of the foregoing, the Appellant remits PAYE for only employees working on the project in Delta State to the Respondent. Also, the Appellant filed annual tax returns to the Respondent for employees who worked as itinerant workers in Delta State between 2017 to 2020.
The Appellant further contended that the Respondent erroneously and arbitrarily assessed the Appellant to additional PAYE liabilities in the sum of ₦6,319,133,339.37 (Six Billion, Three Hundred and Nineteen Million, One Hundred and Thirty-Three Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty-Nine Naira, Thirty-Seven Kobo) for the period of 2015 – 2020, and that the Respondent in its assessment failed to rely on facts and the document provided to it by the Appellant. In arriving at the erroneous assessment, the Respondent relied on “undisclosed staff income” for 2015 – 2016 even when the Appellant had no workers in Delta State during those years. Furthermore, the Respondent included “undeclared income per invoice” for 2017 – 2020 without providing the basis for the inclusion or the invoice relied upon in generating the income. That the Respondent refused to rely on the Appellant’s payroll that captured the true position of the PA YE computed and paid for the assessment years. Despite being provided by the relevant documents required by the Respondent, the Respondent failed to review the documents and reconsider its position.
Consequently, the Appellant sought the following reliefs from this Tribunal