MAERSK DRILLSHIP IV SINGAPORE v. THE COMMISSIONER-GENERAL GHANA REVENUE AUTHORITY

JUDGMENT

BARTELS-KODWO, JA:

INTRODUCTION

This is an appeal against the ruling of the High Court, (Commercial Division) Accra dated 19th October 2022 which decision upheld in part, an appeal brought by Maersk Drillship IV Singapore (hereinafter referred to as "the Appellant") against the Final Objection Decision of the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (hereinafter referred to as "the Respondent) dated 27th September 2021. The dispute between the parties concerns the interpretation and application of Articles 12(1) and (3) as well as Article 26 of the

Offshore Cape Three Points Petroleum Agreement, Sections 27 and 39(3) of the Petroleum Income Tax Act, 1987 (PNDC Law 188), the Internal Revenue Act, 2000 (Act 592) and the Income Tax Act 2015 (Act 896). The instant appeal requires that this Honourable Court properly construe and apply the above provisions. This is because the central contention of the Appellant in this appeal is that on a true and proper construction of the provisions above considered in the appropriate context, the Appellant is not liable to pay any other tax under any other tax law after a 5% final withholding tax is withheld on its behalf by ENI. Specifically, the Appellant avers that the Honourable High Court erred when it held that the Respondent was right in imposing income tax on its earnings for the period 2015-2017 and branch profit tax on same.

The relevant period comprises the 2015-2017 years of assessment. The Appellant, based in Singapore, was registered on the 28th of January 2015 under the laws of the Republic as an external company. According to the statement of facts filed on behalf of the Appellant, the Appellant is "engaged in the business of providing services to the upstream petroleum industry in Ghana". On 30th January 2015, the Appellant entered into a subcontract agreement to provide services to ENI Ghana Exploration and Production Limited ("ENI"), the successor to a Petroleum Agreement (PA) entered into by its predecessor Heleconia Energy Ghana Limited and the Government of Ghana acting through the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

The PA, which was attached to the Notice of Appeal filed at the registry of the Honourable High Court as Exhibit MDS 2 and can be found on page 18 of Volume 1 of the Record of Appeal, is a Petroleum Agreement entered into between the Republic of Ghana, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and Heliconia Energy Ghana Limited in respect of blocks offshore Cape T