Members
Composition of the Court
The Tax Appeal Board encompasses a Chairman and two full-time Ordinary Members. The composition of the Board is set out under the Tax Appeal Board Act Chapter 4:01.
Currently, the Chairman of the Tax Appeal Board is the Honourable Mr. Anthony D.J. Gafoor.
The three Ordinary Members are the Honourable Mr. Roland N. Hosein, the Honourable Mrs. Christine Sahadeo and the Honourable Ms. Cheryl Phillip.
HH Judge Anthony D.J. Gafoor Honorable Chairman
The Honourable Anthony D.J. Gafoor sits at the helm of the Tax Appeal Board holding the post of Office of Chairman since his appointment on December 15th 1998. The Office of the Chairman is by virtue of the Tax Appeal Board Act on par with that of a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court.
H.H. Anthony D.J. Gafoor was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn, London in 1987 and in 1988 he was admitted to practice in Trinidad and Tobago. Whilst in the United Kingdom, His Honour served in private practice and also as legal adviser to a number of Government departments including the Treasury Solicitor’s Department, the Department of Energy and the Department of Trade and Industry, There he practiced in the fields of criminal and family law, general civil litigation, planning, energy law, company and commercial law and taxation.
His Honour Mr. Anthony D.J. Gafoor holds sundry qualifications in the fields of law, international relations, classics, philosophy, and theology. He is a certified mediator in family and civil matters as well as a mediation trainer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK. In addition to this, he is also an adjunct senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies and a Member of the Mediation Board of Trinidad and Tobago. He has served on various international bodies including the Mediation, Arbitration and Litigation Committees of the International Bar Association, and is also a member of the Association of Conflict Resolution, USA, the International Association for Conflict Management, USA and the Civil Mediation Council, UK.
The Honourable Chairman is the first person to be awarded with the Executive Certificate in Conflict Management from the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, Canada in conjunction with the Stitt Feld Handy Group. He is the second in the Caribbean to be awarded the Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK.
The Tax Appeal Board of Trinidad and Tobago is pleased to announce that His Honour, Mr. Anthony D. J. Gafoor, Chairman of the Tax Appeal Court, has been appointed a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Assembly of Tax Judges (IATJ) in 2017. The IATJ is the preeminent global body of jurists formed in Rome in 2010 to enable jurists in the field of tax and other related areas to meet and exchange ideas pertinent to global tax affairs such as FATCA, interpretation of double tax treaties, tax havens and other relevant matters.
The IATJ is characterised as a critical forum for the dissemination and discussion of relevant statutory provisions and case law pertaining to various tax jurisdictions. Its membership is drawn from all five continents and has been chaired since 2010 by the Honourable Eugene P. Rossiter Chief Justice of the Tax Court of Canada who is assisted by the Board of Directors whose members are drawn from the global network of tax judges.
The Board of Directors is chaired by the Honourable Mr. Justice Rossiter, Chief Justice, Tax Court of Canada and also comprises other judges including Judge Malcolm Gammie, QC, United Kingdom, Justice Fabio Prieto, Brazil, Judge Peter Panuthos, US Tax Court, Justice Petri Saukko, Finland, Justice Dr. Vineet Kothari, India, Judge Manuel Garzón, Spain, Judge Manuel Luciano Hallivis Pelayo, Mexico, Judge Jennifer Davies, Australia, President Massimo Scuffi, Italy.
As defined by Article 2 of its by-laws, the IATJ is comprised of Courts, Tribunals or Administrative Bodies, Judges or retired Judges which or whom, irrespective of their official title (for instance Court, Tribunal, Justice, Judge, Adjudicator, Advocate-Generals, Tribunal Chair or Member, or the like) are or were nevertheless empowered to adjudicate, in disputes involving direct or indirect tax assessments. We of the Tax Appeal Board would like to congratulate the Honourable Chairman, H.H. Anthony D. J. Gafoor for this singular honour and wish him continued success.
His Honour Mr. Roland N. Hosein, Ordinary Member of the Tax Appeal Board
His Honour Mr. Roland N. Hosein is professionally qualified in both the fields of law and accountancy. He is an Attorney at Law having been called to the Bar in 1997 and attained Fellowship status of the Association of Chartered Accountants in 2016. His formative years were at Presentation College Chaguanas where upon graduation in 1992 he was awarded prizes for placing 1st in Social Sciences ‘A’ Level as well as 1st place in Accounting and Economics and in addition received a Prize for overall General Proficiency for his ‘A’ Level performances in Accounting, Mathematics and Economics for achieving a Grade A in each of these subjects.
At the inception of his professional career, His Honour served as an Associate Attorney at Ashmead Ali and Company and as the Legal Officer at the Companies’ Registry of the Ministry of Legal Affairs. During the period, 1999 to 2006 His Honour Mr. Hosein embarked on a period of service at the Board of Inland Revenue where he acceded to the post of State Counsel III. At the Revenue, he was awarded the Outstanding Effort Prize, in the Internal Revenue Service Award for his laudable work on Tax Reform. In 2003, His Honour Mr. Hosein was chosen for the United States International Visitor Leadership Programme.
In the years spanning from 2006 to 2009 His Honour held substantive posts at two of the Big Four Accounting Firms in the Banking Sector. From 2006 to 2007, His Honour Mr. Hosein was Tax Manager at KPMG and from 2007 to 2009 he was Tax Manager at Ernst and Young. In 2009 to 2012, he was the Head of Taxation with responsibility for tax compliance, reporting, and planning for the RBC Financial Group within the Caribbean, as well as reporting to its Head Office in Canada.
His Honour Mr. Hosein is also a part-time Lecturer and Tutor in Taxation at the Department of Management Studies, University of the West Indies since 2009 and an Associate Tutor in Law Office Management, Accounting and Technology at the Hugh Wooding Law School since 2015.
He is currently an Executive Member of the Daren Ganga Foundation and has previously served as a member of the Provident Fund Committee of the West Indies Cricket Board and a director of the West Indies Player Management Company Limited as well as being a member of the negotiation team on behalf of the West Indies Players Association which had successfully entered into the historic first Collective Agreement with the West Indies Cricket Board in 2004.
He has a keen interest in cricket, football and music as well as being a fitness enthusiast.
Her Honour Ms. Cheryl Phillip, Ordinary Member of the Tax Appeal Board
Cheryl Phillip was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Tax Appeal Board by Her Excellency Paula Mae Weekes, the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, for a period of three (3) years with effect from May 4th 2021.
Ms. Phillip is a former Commissioner and Member of the Board of Inland Revenue. She has always served in the public service and, except for a period of approximately three (3) years in an acting position as a Financial Analyst at the Public Sector Finance Management Unit at the Ministry of Finance, most of her working experience was at the Inland Revenue Division.
She was selected in 1989 to be a member of a core team which was formed by the Board of Inland Revenue for the introduction of Value Added Tax in Trinidad and Tobago. She served in the role of Business Sponsor for the Supply, Design and Implementation Project for the establishment of the Integrated Tax Processing System, GenTax. She was also a member of an Executive Steering Committee formed for its implementation.
She represented Trinidad and Tobago and served as a moderator at a technical conference held by the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) in Paris, France and also attended their conferences in Portugal and Panama. She also represented our country at conferences held by the Caribbean Organization of Tax Administrators (COTA) in Belize and the Federation of Tax Administrators in the United States of America. In her position as Financial Analyst she represented Trinidad & Tobago at a Debt Management Conference held at the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
Ms. Phillip attended St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando and later studied at the Emile Woolf College of Accountancy in London, England. She became a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and after years of continuous membership she became a Fellow of the Association until 2012.
She received a diploma and certificate for her participation in training courses on Taxation conducted by the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations. She also completed a course of study in Value Added Tax Collection and Enforcement at the Crown Agents Management Training Centre, Worthing, West Sussex, England.
She enjoys doing voluntary work at various organizations including the Adult Literacy Tutors Association (ALTA).
Her Honour Ms. Christine Sahadeo, Ordinary Member of The Tax Appeal Board
We are pleased to have Her Honour Christine Sahadeo as a sitting judge at the Tax Appeal Board as the Court reopened in September, 2021.
Her Honour is widely experienced in the fields of Law, Accounting, Finance and Management. She was awarded a government scholarship whereby she became a Chartered Accountant in 1986. In 1995, she graduated with an Executive Masters in Business Administration at the UWI Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business. In 2009 she obtained a Bachelor of Law from the University of London and obtained her Legal Education Certificate at Hugh Wooding Law School. She is also a certified mediator. In 2020 she obtained the IBFD Advanced Professional Certificate in International Taxation.
HH Christine Sahadeo has extensive experience in auditing at Ernst & Young and was Assistant to Inspector of Banks at The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. She then joined the Massy group as the Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer and later Chief Executive Officer at Melville Shipping Limited. She has served on many boards and was the first female chairperson of a public quoted company, National Flour Mills Limited.
HH Christine Sahadeo left the corporate world and was appointed senator and a member of cabinet (with ministerial portfolios) and sub committees of cabinet including Energy, Finance and General Purpose Committee, Business Development and Public Sector Negotiating Committee.
From 2008 to 2021 she was a senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Audit, Taxation, Accounting and Financial Literacy. HH Christine Sahadeo is the author of Financial Literacy and Money Script. To quote Christine from her book, “Financial literacy entails the ability to discern financial choices, discuss money and financial issues without discomfort and plan ahead.” She said she firmly believes that , “Training in Financial literacy will assist women in dealing with new barriers that have emerged with the Covid 19 pandemic and other socio-economic impacts.”
Christine is also an expert in leadership and Emotional Intelligence and have conducted many workshops in this area. We are truly honoured to have Her Honour Ms. Christine Sahadeo amongst us. She is a recent addition to the Tax Appeal Board.