Nigerian Govt ends rift between FIRS, NIPOST Stamp Duties Administration
Nigerian Govt favours FIRS on rift with NIPOST over Stamp Duties
The lingering dispute between Nigeria’s postal organisation, NIPOST and the apex tax authority, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over authority to administer Stamp Duties in Nigeria has been decided by the Nigerian Government in favour of FIRS.
In a series of tweet on Tuesday, Nigerian Government in its Twitter handle @NigeriaGov said:
Note: The Federal Inland Revenue Service @firsNigeria
is the competent tax authority to administer, assess, collect, and account for stamp duty in Nigeria.
Note: The Finance Act 2019 amendment to the Stamp Duties Act, particularly Section 52-56, clearly defines the responsibilities for the administration of Stamp Duties in Nigeria and jurisdiction of participating taxing authorities.
Note: By Paragraph 7, Item B of Part II of the Second Schedule to the Constitution and Section 4(2) of Stamp Duty Act, State Governments are empowered to collect stamp duties in respect of transactions between individuals residing in their respective States.
#DidYouKnow The Federal Government inaugurated, on Tuesday 30th June, 2020, an Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Audit and Recovery of Backlog of Stamp Duties, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; Abubakar Malami, SAN.
The issue between two agencies predates 2013. The NIPOST said it had the constitutional role to administer Stamp Duties in Nigeria because it is the custodian of Stamps in Nigeria FIRS quoted relevant laws says that Stamp Duties is a tax type and only FIRS had the Constitutional authority to administer taxes on behalf of the Federal Government.
The Finance Act, 2019, recognises the FIRS as the sole competent authority to administer Stamp Duties. However, NIPOST claimed that the Act does not repeal its powers to sell Postage Stamps.
Recently, the two government agencies went public on Twitter where they traded words on whose role it is to collect Stamp Duties.
The Federal Government’s tweet on Tuesday may have brought the disagreement to and end.
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