Defaulting Bank Remits N1.2bn In Stamp Duty – FIRS Boss
….N80BN COLLECTED FOR STAMP DUTY
AMINA HUSSAINI
An unnamed commercial bank, which has defaulted in stamp duty remittances, l remitted about N1.2 billion in stamp duty for the month of July.
The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami, revealed this on Monday while appearing on Kaakaki, an Africa Independent Television (AIT) programme.
Nami stated that a total of N80 billion has so far been collected for stamp duty.
He disclosed that the renewed focus on stamp duty has started to yield dividends.
He said, “Before now, remittance from stamp used to be an average of about N17 billion and N18 billion per year. Currently, it is in the region of N80 billion.
“I can confirm to you that a commercial bank which has not been remitting this stamp duty before now, in the month of July alone, remitted about N1.2 billion. So, we are not playing about it.
“We know that we are in a serious economic crisis and the only way to ensure that Nigerians are happy with the government is to ensure that this money deducted from their hard-earned income is remitted to government coffers.”
The FIRS boss noted that tax revenues generated by the Service have kept the Nigerian economy going despite the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic.
He appealed to Nigerians and corporate bodies in the country to continue to pay their taxes as and when due.
“Nobody wants to pay tax but payment of tax is necessary. There is never a time that is appropriate for somebody to pay taxes. You can see it all over the world.
“This belief that with oil money we are rich is false. What you see the federal, states and local governments sharing at the federation account monthly meeting comes from the taxes paid by Nigerians or corporate bodies.
“At the FAAC meeting in July, the total amount shared among the three tiers of government was N696 billion. From this amount 30% came from revenue generating-agencies like NNPC and Customs. The remaining 70%, which is almost N500 billion, came from tax money that you paid, including stamp duty.
“Without this money, there will be crisis everywhere. You are looking at issues relating to COVID-19 and the impact it is having on businesses today. People are actually losing jobs but it would be worse if taxes are not paid.”
Comments are closed.