The state tax agency accused the three banks of failure to remit taxes deducted from customers in the state.
This is the second state that has taken such a hard stance against Unity Bank this year for tax related offenses.
Alhaji Usman Okposhi, Chairman of NSIRS said in Lafia on Wednesday that four branches each of Skye Bank and Unity Bank, and two branches of Keystone Bank were affected by the closure.
He said that the action was backed by Section 104 of the Personal Income Tax Act that mandates tax authority to reconcile with the banks the level of compliance of the tax payers.
“The recent closure hinges on the failure on the part of the banks to comply with appropriate directive as provided by the law.
“In the matter at hand, banks are not our tax payers. The customers in the banks are our tax payers.
“But they are the agents empowered by law to make deductions but they are withholding tax on dividends, withholding tax on fixed deposits and other relevant taxes.
“When we demanded for documents to review their level of compliance, the banks refused,” the NSIRS chairman said.
Okposhi said that NSIRS was compelled to use legal means in sealing the banks since the institutions failed to comply with the law after several demand notices.
He said that the state got a motion ex parte order from the State High Court to seal all the branches of the three banks in the state until they complied with NSIRS directive.
“After giving them several notices, we gave them reminders, we gave them warnings, we even served them an ex parte order from the court but they still refused.
“So, we had to go to court again to get another order to seal up their branches in the state.
“I don’t know what they are hiding. They are supposed to open their documents for us to verify what they deducted from customers and should remit to the state government.
“By refusing, they are sending us signal that they have something to hide,” the NSIRS boss said.
Okposhi appealed to customers of the three banks to exercise patience while the matter was being resolved.
“It is unfortunate the customers are on the receiving end but it’s not our fault. We are doing it statutorily.
“The law allows us to take this step and statutorily the banks are supposed to comply but once they fail to comply, the law descends on them,” he added.
Benue state last month announced the sealing off of Unity Bank for alleged tax offence. The bank however accused the state’s tax office of frustrating efforts to reconcile the tax figure slammed on it. The bank was sealed off in May this year and still remain shut, throwing the customers into difficult times and unable to access their accounts.
A staff of Unity Bank told InsideBusiness that such act by the state was a blackmail against the bank especially when it took the issue to the media.
“This is a blackmail by the state agency especially when it knew that such could affect the image and integrity of the bank by going to the press”.
He admitted that Unity Bank like others, collect taxes behalf of the state which it remit after reconciliation at a particular time.
“We collect taxes on behalf of government which we later reconcile with the tax agency quarterly or a particular agreed time”.
He promised the tax unit of the bank will act fast to know the details of the issue and reconcile the figures.
Nduneche Ezurike, Skye Bank’s Corporate Communications Manager promised to find out the details from the bank but did not revert up till the time of filing the report.
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