FIRS Stamp duty collection hits N66 bn in 6 months

The Federal Inland Revenue Service has announced that a total of N66 billion was generated as Stamp duty charges for the period of January to June 2020.

Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, stating that the significant leap arose from the dynamism introduced by the Finance Act 2019.

Speaking at the inauguration of the inter ministerial committee on Audit and recovery of back years stamp duties, Nami noted that stamp duty is essentially a duty chargeable on both physical and electronic instruments.

He said “as the world becomes more global, COVID-19 has further limited physical interaction, electronic payment acknowledgement of stamp duties at a time like this is a must.”

“The introduction of the FIRS stamp duties adhesive stamp will plug the revenue sink-hole, enable proper accountability and transparency, simplify tax administration of stamp duties and reduce disputes,” he added.

He stressed that with the finance Act 2019, FIRS remains the sole competent tax authority to assess, collect and account for stamp duty in Nigeria.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamiala in his remark said that the global COVID-19 pandemic and its cascading economic effects have made it necessary for government to be proactive in bringing about rapid economic recovery.
“The House of Representatives has always encouraged and supported laudable initiatives of FIRS towards repositioning tax administration in Nigeria and maximising revenue collection for the Nigeria government”.

“Therefore. urge all the other revenue generating agencies to rise up to this challenge. For, I dare to say that the only way to prevail in difficult times is to evolve resourceful and dynamic policies and engage in global best practices”.

“Let me therefore seize this opportunity to reassure the Executive Chairman that the House of representatives is committed to continue supporting F IRS especially in legislative interventions in order to ensure that the Service continue to succeed in its mandate,” he said.

Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation said that it has become more important to consistently emphasize the need for the tightening of all areas of leakages, wastages, and revenue losses as the projected revenue realizable from all sources available to the government as per our 2020 budget estimates is far lower than the projected expenses leading to a budget deficit of over Five Trillion Naira.

“The members of the committee may recall that since the inception of this administration, the government has pledged to Nigerians that it shall leave no stone unturned in its commitment to reposition the economy of this country for sustainable development and meaningful progress”.

“It is for this reason that the government has consistently emphasized the need for the tightening of all areas of leakages, wastages, and revenue losses,” he said.

He said that the government has recognized the fact that for meaningful development to be achieved, it has to look inwards to use every available means to shore up its revenue generating capacity.

“For too long the country has depended on oil as the main cash cow of the economy even though it is richly endowed with other viable revenue yielding sources”.

“In the face of dwindling oil revenue, and the global shift away from oil dependent technological products, it is even more compelling now to begin to think out of the box in order to safeguard the future of our country”.

“Therefore, this administration has resolved to widen the revenue base by activating the Stamp Duties revenue collection which has been neglected for more than twenty years”.

“There is assurance thatthe collection from Stamp Duty will be second to oil revenue, as has the potential to yield up to a trillion naira revenue annually it properly harnessed”.

“This inter ministerial Committee on audit and recovery of Stamp Duties Collection ls being inaugurated today to serve as a timely intervention in the country’s search for ways to augment its revenue generation drive to avoid sliding back to recession”.