VAT

Abuja, March 15, 2024: The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the aggregate Value Added Tax (VAT) stood at N1.20 trillion in fourth quarter of 2023.

This is according to the VAT Q4 2023 report released in Abuja on Thursday.

The report shows a growth rate of 26.61 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from N948.07 billion in Q3 2023.

It said local payments recorded were N630.00 billion, while foreign VAT payments contributed N326.27 billion, and import VAT contributed N244.04 billion in Q4 2023.

The report said on a quarter-on-quarter basis, agriculture, mining and quarrying recorded the highest growth rate with 63.75 per cent.

“This was followed by activities of other services organisations with 61.98 per cent.”

“On the other hand, activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies had the lowest growth rate with –19.44 per cent, followed by financial and insurance with –8.46 per cent.”

In terms of sectoral contributions, the report showed the top three largest shares in Q4 2023 were manufacturing with 13.24 per cent, information and communication with 10.02 per cent, and mining and quarrying with 7.91 per cent.

“On the other hand, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the least share with 0.00 per cent.

“This was followed by activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies, and water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities with 0.03 per cent.

“This was closely followed by activities of real estate with 0.07 per cent and agriculture, forestry and fishing activities with 0.10 per cent.”

The report, however, said on a year-on-year basis, VAT collections in Q4 2023 increased by 72.12 per cent from Q4 2022.

Abuja, Dec. 12, 2023: The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the aggregate Value Added Tax (VAT) stood at N948.07 billion in Q3 2023.

This is according to the VAT Q3 2023 Report released in Abuja on Monday.

The report shows a growth rate of 21.34 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from N781.35 billion in Q2 2023.

It said local payments recorded were N522.08 billion, while foreign VAT payments contributed N204.58 billion, and import VAT contributed N221.41 billion in Q3 2023.

The report said on a quarter-on-quarter basis, agriculture, forestry and fishing recorded the highest growth rate with 91.87 per cent.

“This was followed by activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies with 80.25 per cent.”

“On the other hand, real estate had the lowest growth rate with –37.68 per cent , followed by construction with – 9.54 per cent.”

In terms of sectoral contributions, the report showed the top three largest shares in Q3 2023 were manufacturing with 26.51 per cent, information and communication with 19.04 per cent, and financial and insurance activities with 12.31 per cent.

“On the other hand, activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the least share with 0.02 per cent.

“This was followed by water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities with 0.06 per cent.

“This was closely followed by activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies with 0.10 per cent.”

The report, however, said on a year-on-year basis, VAT collections in Q3 2023 increased by 51.60 per cent from Q3 2022.

Abuja, Nov. 19, 2023: The Market Traders Association of Nigeria (MATAN), says the Federal Government’s Value Added Tax Direct Initiative (VDI) will end multiple taxation and promote the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Hajiya Aisha Nakorji, the Chairperson of the association in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, who stated this in Abuja on Sunday, added that the initiative would also empower rural traders and artisans.

Nakorji said during sensitisation of young entrepreneurs that the initiative was one of the best government initiatives to the people, particularly traders.

She explained that the VDI was introduced by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to collect and remit VAT from MATAN members, especially those in the informal sector using a unified systems technology.

Nakorji said that the association would collaborate with FIRS in the execution of the initiative due to its widespread network in all the nooks and cronies of the country.

“Under the collaboration, MATAN will promote awareness on VAT collection and remittance in the marketplace and informal sector.

“The association will also simplify VAT payment and remittance for the marketplace and informal sector using a purpose-built digital platform.

“The digital platform enumerates the association members and provides a digital identification that tracks their turnover so that VAT accrued is collected and remitted to the FIRS.

“The initiative will remove all bottlenecks hampering businesses, particularly multiple taxation as one of our major challenges in the informal sector is not knowing who we are paying taxes to,” she said.

Nakorji added that FIRS has packaged both cash and material rewards for members of the association and other businesses in the informal sector who would key into the initiative.

The chairperson further said that the association has sensitised traders in all the six Area Councils of the FCT to deepen understanding of the project among the rural population.

“We have taken this campaign to all the six Area Councils to educate critical stakeholders and the informal sector players who are supposed to be part of the initiative.

“The benefits are enormous. Through the initiative, the government is not just working to eliminate multiple taxation, but also seeking to end poverty.

“I believe that this is a noble policy from President Bola Tinubu’s administration, and all stakeholders need to accept and promote it,” she added.

Lagos, July 5, 2023: Dr Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, has lauded the Value Direct Initiative (a tax scheme) of the Federal Government and called for safeguards to prevent abuse upon implementation.

Oyedele made this known in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos.

The Federal Government through the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Monday announced the scheme —  Value Direct Initiative.

The scheme will allow government to collect Value Added Tax (VAT) from the informal sector, inclusive of traders, in collaboration with the Market Traders Association of Nigeria (MATAN).

The tax expert stated that the social contract between government and the people required every taxable person to pay their taxes, while government must apply the revenue collected for the benefit of the people.

He, however, noted that a national tax perception study indicated that Nigerians had a very low tax morale.

He revealed that the study showed that only 17 per cent of individuals and 31 per cent of businesses believe that they should pay their taxes correctly.

Oyedele said the initiative by the FIRS was therefore commendable, as it sought to bring the mostly informal sector traders under the MATAN umbrella into the formal tax net.

According to him, the initiative will also help the traders to ward off the menace of multiple taxes and extortion often by non state actors.

He, however, stressed the need for proper education to ensure that the traders know their rights and are not exploited by tax officers.

“Ultimately, the biggest win for government from this arrangement may not be the VAT but the tax awareness, data about the traders and their trades which can be used for economic planning and possible interventions to support the informal sector businesses.

“This should include simplified record keeping to help them access finance and scale their business.

“One of the reasons Nigerians gave for the low tax morale is lack of trust in government, lack of commensurate fiscal exchange for taxes paid and corruption in tax administration.

“Government needs to address these issues for the initiative to truly work.

“FIRS also needs to work with various states similar to their arrangements with Lagos State to ensure that the traders who are not in the tax net for personal income tax purposes do so, subject to the income tax exemption of N360,000 per annum as provided under the law,” he said.

He added that the scheme would cover many of the traders not exempted by the N25 million turnover threshold of the VAT Act such as basic food items, medical products, baby products and educational materials.

Oyedele said for those not covered by any of the above exemptions, they would be liable to charge and remit VAT at 7.5 per cent on their sales.

“However, they are eligible to claim input VAT on their purchases such that the 7.5 per cent VAT is effectively charged only to their margins.

“For instance, if a trader buys an item for N1,000 and sells it for N1,200; the incremental VAT cost to charge to the customers is N15 i.e. 7.5 per cent of N200 margin.

“The combined effect of the above means that the public should not be exploited either by the traders who may use this VAT arrangement as an excuse to hike their prices.

“The VAT should not apply to over 90 per cent of the traders, and for those who need to charge the VAT, the impact should be about one to two per cent of the sales value, if not less.

“In fact, the traders should pay less “tax” overall if government can stop the illegal taxes the traders currently pay as a sweetener for the VAT pact,” he said.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says the aggregate Value Added Tax (VAT) collected in the second quarter of 2022 stood at N600.15 billion.

According to the VAT Q2 2022 Report released in Abuja on Saturday by NBS, VAT recorded a growth rate of 1.96 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from N588.59 billion in Q1 2022.

The report said the local payments recorded were N359.12 billion, while foreign VAT payments contributed N111.13 billion in Q2 2022.

It said on a quarter-on-quarter basis, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply recorded the highest growth rate with 116.47 per cent, followed by accommodation and food service activities with 42.44 per cent

“On the other hand, activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies had the lowest growth rate with 42.39 per cent.

“This was followed by activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use with 36.57 per cent.”

In terms of sectoral contributions, the report showed the top three largest shares in Q2 2022 were Manufacturing with 33.08 per cent, information and communication with 18.98 per cent, and mining and quarrying with 10.60 per cent.

“On the other hand, activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the least share with 0.03 per cent.

“This was followed by activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies with 0.05 per cent; and water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities with 0.13 per cent.”

The report, however, said, on a year-on-year basis, VAT collections in Q2 2022 increased by 17.16 per cent from Q2 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says that on the aggregate, Value Added Tax (VAT) collection stood at N588.59 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

It stated on Friday in Abuja that the collections recorded a growth of 4.41 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from the N563.72 billion collected in the last quarter of 2021.

It noted, however, that on a year-on-year basis, VAT collections in Q1 of 2022 increased by18.58 per cent compared to the collection in the corresponding quarter in 2021.

It explained that local VAT payments recorded N344.04 billion, while foreign VAT payments contributed N117.99 billion in Q1 of 2022.

The report showed that on a quarter-on-quarter basis, activities of extraterritorial organisations and institutions recorded the highest growth rate with 469.32 per cent.

“This was followed by water supply, sewerage, and waste management and remediation activities with 47.62 per cent.’’ The NBS noted.

The report showed, however, that agriculture, forestry and fishing had the lowest growth rate of minus 31.04 per cent, followed by real estate activities with minus18.74 per cent.

In terms of sectorial contributions, it showed the top three largest contributors in Q1 2022 as Manufacturing with 32.84 per cent; Information and Communication with 17.10 per cent; and Mining and Quarrying with 11.85 per cent.

The report showed that activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods and services producing activities of households for own use recorded the least share with 0.04 per cent

“This was followed by activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies with 0.08 per cent; and water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities with 0.16 per cent,’’ it stated.