Joshua Akhator

Joshua Akhator is the head of the Tax, Transfer Pricing and Restructuring unit of Alliance Law Firm. He is a renowned legal and tax expert with over 15 years of experience in tax planning, mergers and acquisitions, advisory, restructuring and compliance transactions. He has worked closely with various tax authorities in Nigeria. He has handled various portfolios and advised numerous clients on tax issues, laws and regulations and has won landmark cases involving novel and complex tax issues. He was called to the Nigerian Bar Association in 2009 and he has worked with leading law firms and top advisory/professional services firms in Nigeria

Joshua is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and the International Bar Association. He is a chartered tax practitioner certified by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria. He is also a  member of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators. He has worked closely with various regulatory authorities and has been involved in numerous policy formulations in Nigeria. Before joining Alliance Law Firm,  Joshua worked with other tax advisory and professional services firms in Nigeria including WTS Adebiyi & Associates and Andersen Nigeria. He has also written many articles in law journals and regularly speaks at various tax seminars and conferences. He also features as a commentator on National issues. He edited several volumes of the Tax Law Report of Nigeria. 

● University of Benin (LLB)
● Nigerian Law School (BL, Hons)

• Nigeria Bar Association (NBA)​
• International Bar Association (IBA)​
• Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria​
• Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICARB)​
• Association of International Energy Negotiators (AIEN)​
• Oil and Gas & Energy Law (OGEL) Forum​
• The Privacy Academy 

• Tax Advisory Services​
• Corporate & Commercial Practice​
• Litigation & Dispute Resolution​
• Privacy and Data Protection​
• Tax Audit Management​
• Legal and Regulatory Compliance​
• Energy and Infrastructure​
• Tax Planning and Compliance​
• Transfer Pricing

A. TAX SERVICE EXPERIENCE
● Reviewed existing structures for various companies within a Manufacturing Group of Companies with a view to improving operational efficiencies and for optimal tax planning. The advice included options on offshore re-organization, considering the tax and regulato-ry legislations in those jurisdictions, bearing in mind the objective of the Group.
● Provided tax due diligence services to a leading oil and gas Company in Nigeria on the acquisition of a Jetty and other heavy-duty equipment situate in Nigeria, whilst providing advisory opinions that minimized the tax exposure of the Company during the acquisition process.
● Provided a start-up financial technology Firm company located in Delaware, United States of America, with operational model optimization services and advisory services on several tax and legal issues.
● Provided tax due diligence services with respect to the merger of two companies within the same group of companies. In this regard, identified potential tax exposures and quan-tified the tax assets to be transferred to the enlarged entity. We are also assisting with ob-taining the requisite approval from FIRS pursuant to Section 29 of CITA.
● Assisted holding companies in Nigeria with obtaining the requisite approval from FIRS pursuant to Section 29 of CITA.

B. LITIGATION EXPERIENCE
● Represented an international oil & gas company in a tax dispute with the Federal Inland Revenue Service on the issue of tax deductibility of gas flaring penalties.
● Provided tax advisory services and tax dispute resolution support for a leading manufac-turing company in a tax audit carried out by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
● Represented an upstream oil and gas company in a tax dispute with the Federal Inland Revenue Service on excess dividend tax assessment raised by the FIRS on the company.
● Assisted Holding companies in Nigeria with obtaining a ruling on exemption from excess dividend tax rule from the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
● Represented an oil and gas servicing company in a tax appeal with the Lagos State Inter-nal Revenue Service
● Negotiated settlement on behalf of multinational entity engaged in visa application pro-cessing on an assessment issued by the FIRS on turnover basis.