The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says Nigerians
will now pay stamp duties on WhatsApp messages, SMS, and messages via any
electronic platform acknowledging receipt of funds.
The revenue service also stated that stamp duties will be
paid on “POS receipts, fiscalised device
receipts, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) print-outs”.
According to an information circular published by the
agency, Nigerians will also be required to pay stamp
duties on SMS acknowledging receipt of funds.
FIRS gave illustrations of situations where Nigerians are
expected to pay stamp duties, one of them says: “ABZ Ltd’s chief accounting
officer, after receiving a cash payment of N500,000 from Mr. XYZ on behalf of
ABZ Ltd., composed a message which reads: ‘receipt of N500,000 is hereby
acknowledged’ and sent same to Mr. XYZ via WhatsApp messenger”.
“In this case, the WhatsApp message acknowledging the
receipt of N500,000 constitutes a receipt for which stamp duty is payable.
“Mr XYZ is required to make a disclosure of the details of
the transaction using FIRS e-stamp duty platform or to the relevant stamp
duties Commissioner. This will lead to assessment and payment of appropriate
stamp duties and a consequential issuance of a stamp duty certificate or an acknowledgement.
“Such certificate or acknowledgement will suffice as
evidence that stamp duties have been paid and that the electronic receipt has
been stamped appropriately.”
The agency adds that “all electronic dutiable instruments or
receipts”, including e-mails, short message service (sms), instant messages
(IM), any internet-based messaging service, are subject to stamp duty.
The circular, issued in April, clearly stated that “all
printed receipts” and “all electronically generated receipts and any form of
electronic acknowledgement of money for dutiable transactions” are liable to
duty payment.
PWC FAULTS ENFORCEMENT
In its analysis of the circular, PwC Nigeria said a major
issue with the Stamp Duties Act (SDA) in its current form is the “practicability
of enforcing compliance”.
“The practical application of this is doubtful and even
where the FIRS attempts to enforce this, taxpayers may challenge the FIRS’
definition of the term, as the Act itself does not provide a definition.
“While the Circular encourages the payment of stamp duties
via the FIRS’ e-platform, there have been complaints that the platform does not
facilitate bulk remittance of stamp duties, as the platform only allows
individual stamping of documents. The FIRS should address this.
“In general, the SDA (enacted in 1939) needs to be repealed
and re-enacted to be in tune with modern day business and economic realities.”
The Finance Act (FA) 2019 introduced some amendments to the
Stamp Duties Act (SDA) which necessitated this recent circular by the FIRS.
In line with the amended SDA, a N50 stamp duty is payable on
any bank deposit or transfer of N10,000 or more, except deposits or transfers
between accounts maintained by the same person in the same bank.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com