Mr Abdullahi Ahmad, FIRS Director, Communications and
Liaison Department said the decision to appoint the banks as agents and to
freeze the accounts followed the groups’ continued refusal to grant FIRS access
to their servers for audit.
FIRS said it discovered that the companies persistently
breached all agreements and undertakings with the Service.
The Executive Chairman FIRS, Mr Muhammad Nami, was quoted as
saying, “the companies would not promptly respond to correspondences, they
lacked data integrity and are not transparent as they continually deny FIRS
access to their records.
“Particularly, MCN has avoided giving the FIRS accurate
information on the number of its subscribers and income.
“The companies are involved in the under-remittance of taxes
which necessitated a critical review of the tax-compliance level of the
company” Nami stated.
The service added that the groups’ performance did not
reflect in their tax obligations and compliance level in the country.
FIRS further noted that the level of non-compliance by
Multi-Choice Africa (MCA), the parent Company MCN was very alarming adding that
the parent company, which provided services to MCN had never paid Value Added
Tax (VAT) since its inception.
The issue with Tax collection in Nigeria, especially from
foreign-based Companies conducting businesses in Nigeria and making massive
profits is frustrating and infuriating to the FIRS.
“Regrettably, Companies come into Nigeria just to infringe
on our tax laws by indulging in tax evasion. There is no doubt that
broadcasting, telecommunications and the cable-satellite industries have
changed the face of communication in Nigeria.
“However, when it comes to tax compliance, some companies
are found wanting. They do with impunity in Nigeria what they dare not try in
their countries of origin”.
The chairman stated that Nigeria contributed 34 per cent of
total revenue for the Multi-Choice group saying that the next to Nigeria from
intelligence gathering is Kenya with 11 per cent and Zambia in third place with
10 per cent.
According to him, the rest of the African countries where
they have a present account for 45 per cent of the group’s total revenue.
“Information currently at the disposal of FIRS has revealed
a tax liability for relevant years of assessment for ₦1.8trillion and 342.5
million dollars.
“FIRS is powered in Section 49 of the Companies Income Tax
Act Cap C21 LFN 2004 as amended, Section 41 of the Value Added Tax Act Cap V1
LFN 2004 as amended and Section 31 of the FIRS (Establishment) Act No. 13 of
2007.
“With these relevant sections all bankers to MCA and MCN in
Nigeria are therefore appointed as Collecting Agents for the full recovery of
the aforesaid tax debt.
“In this regard, the affected banks are required to sweep
balances in each of the above-mentioned entities’ accounts and pay the same in
full or part settlement of the companies’ respective tax debts until full
recovery.
“This should be done before the execution of any transaction
involving the companies or any of their subsidiaries. It is further requested
that the FIRS be informed of any transactions before execution on the account,
especially transfers of funds to any of their subsidiaries.
It is important that Nigeria puts a stop to all tax frauds
that had been going on for too long and all companies must be held accountable
and made to pay their fair share of relevant taxes including back duty taxes
owed especially VAT,” he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment