The Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) Engr. Gbenga Adebayo has once again, stressed that the body has Secured presidential exemption from paying a five per cent excise duty on telecommunication services as contained by the new Finance Act 2023 into law on May 28, 2023.
He stated that AlTON has the approval from the former minister that the sector is exempted. Also “It is in the act, but we got a presidential exemption, so we are unlikely to suffer from the tax. If we do, we are going to pass it on to the subscriber, no doubt. Because we are just going to act as collection agents.”
But there are fresh fears that government may have backed out as a part of the document leaked on LinkedIn by the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Taiwo Oyedele, read, “All services, including telecommunication services, provided in Nigeria shall be charged with duties of excise at the rates specified under the duty column in the Schedule as the President may by order prescribe pursuant to section 13 of this Act.”
Since July 2022, the Federal Government has tried, many times, to implement a five per cent excise duty on telecom services to boost revenue generation.
However, in a swift drive, the immediate former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, announced in a statement that the government has exempted the telecoms sector from excise duty tax.
He made it clear that government considered a variety of factors including the fact that he cost of calls, data, and SMS may rise after the former president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, signed a five per cent excise duty on telecommunication services into law despite protests against the move.
The president, Buhari as part of his last acts signed the Finance Act 2023 into law on May 28, 2023.
Meanwhile with the exemption has presidential backing, according to section 21 of the Principal Act amended by substituting for subsection (2), a new subsection (2), all services, including telecommunication services would be charged excise duty.
Both the Technology and Communication sector, especially the telecom industry, is overburdened by excessive and multiple taxations, and any additional tax on the sector will affect the sector if the government fails to take any precautions.
Buhari government announced in March 2023 that it was concerned about the sufferings of Nigerians and had exempted telecoms from excise duty.
In view of the cash crunch state of the federal government by Analyst, it is not yet clear if the current administration of President Bola Tinubu would still stand on the already granted tax exemption to ALTON members of back out after all.
