FIRS To Widen Tax Net In Measures For N1trn Stamp Duties
AMINA HUSSAINI, Abuja
The executive and the parliament were unanimous Tuesday, giving the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) a push to widen the tax net and recover all Stamp Duties collected on behalf of the Federal Government but yet to be remitted by government agencies, banks, and other companies.
The two organs of government at the inauguration of the inter-ministerial committee on Audit and Recovery of Back years stamp duties and the launch of FIRS adhesive stamp which was streamed live on @firsNigeria noted that revenue from stamp duty could be up to N1trillion annually if properly tackled.
Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr. Boss Mustapha said the government looks up to the committee “to judiciously undertake an audit and recover on behalf of the Government all stamp duties charged from January 2016 to date but yet to be remitted by the relevant Ministries Departments and Agencies, Deposit Money Banks and Nigerian Interbank Settlement System Plc among others.
Mustapha directed that “all recoveries made by this Committee be remitted to appropriate Stamp Duty Account maintained by the Federal Government with the Central Bank of Nigeria for transparency and accountability, noting that “all relevant MDAs particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria, NIBSS DMBs, NIPOST, and FIRS should give maximum cooperation to the Committee in the discharge of its mandate”.
With the dwindling revenue occasioned by the twin problem of oil prices plunge and Covid-19, it is imperative to recover stamp duties to at least bridge the budget deficit of over N5trillion.
Mohammad Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS said the stamp duty recovery efforts will start from his agency and directed the finance and accounts department to remit ₦39 billion being stamp duties collected by the Service to the Committee as he also vowed to go after MDAs that had collected stamp duties from contracts executed but failed to remit the same to the account.
Nami disclosed that between January and May this year, a total of ₦66 billion stamp duty fees collected so far had been remitted into the federation account. In addition ₦18billion was generated in the 2019 fiscal period.
Giving a breakdown of the ₦66billion, Nami said ₦20billion was remitted by Deposit Money Banks, while ₦39billion collected by the FIRS is warehoused in the CBN.
Nami maintained that the FIRS is prepared to reposition stamp duties as the next major revenue source for Nigeria, as revenue from oil and gas continues to dwindle due to global fall in demand and price, “indirect taxes such as Stamp Duty remain the viable and sustainable alternative revenue source for funding budgetary requirements” he said.
The remaining ₦7.9billion he said represents stamp duty revenue from the stamping of various instruments.
He attributed the rise in stamp duty collection to the drive triggered by the Finance Act of 2019.
Equally, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday tasked the tax agency to widen the tax net rather than overburden the people and business concerns.
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