The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Executive Chairman, Mr. Muhammad Nami, has revealed that the revenue agency currently generates about N3 billion every week from stamp duty collection.
Nami disclose at a meeting, called by the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Finance to resolve the face-off between the FIRS and the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) over stamp duty collection.
He claimed the agency was able to generate such amount of revenue from a single stream of stamp duty collection from Deposit Money Bank (DMBs) because FIRS deployed a new technology to track and capture such revenue straight into the federation account using the Application Programming Interface (API) technology solution, an online real-time technology, that makes stamp duty collection easier.
on the feud with NIPOST, Nami said payment of stamp duties collection in Nigeria dates back 94 years ago, stressing that stamp duty had always been part of the revenue schedule of the tax authority.
He regretted that the differences in who controls stamp duty collection between both NIPOST and FIRS had degenerated into a public spat to between the two agencies describing the development as “unnecessary and unhelpful”.
In a statement, he said: “The FIRS regrets that as an agency of the government, FIRS and NIPOST allow a simple situation to degenerate to media exposure.”
READ: NIPOST Exchange Banters with FIRS Again over Stamp Duty
However, the Postmaster General/Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, Dr. Ismail Adebanjo Adewusi, described the feud between FIRS and his agency as needless.
He said: “As prelude, it’s important to make this remark. NIPOST is not a tax collecting agency. We are not in the business of collecting taxes, that’s not our mandate. But our role in stamp duty is clearly stated in the law.
“The issue is, the Finance Act, 2019 did not in any way stop NIPOST from its mandate. In spite of amendment to finance Act, it has not affected the responsibility of NIPOST. There is no fight between NIPOST and FIRS over tax collection.”
He however insisted that the responsibility of procuring stamp rests with NIPOST, but appealed that the agency is entitled to its share of the stamp duty proceeds it collected and domiciled in the CBN from 2016 to 2020.
