FIRS Insists NIPOST Not Authorised to Collect Stamp Duty

By Ahmed Rahma

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has maintained that the collection of stamp duty collection in Nigeria was still under its purview.

The agency described as false publications in some newspapers and electronic/social media platforms that the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has been given the responsibility to carry out the function.

NIPOST and FIRS have been at loggerheads over the right organisation to collect stamp duty in the country.

A few days ago, NIPOST claimed the Minister for Communications and Digital Economy has mandated it to be in charge of the administration of stamp duties in the country.

This did not go down well with the FIRS, which said in a statement on Tuesday issued by its Director of Communications and Liaison, Mr Abdullahi Ahmad, that the Minister’s speech was misquoted.

“For the avoidance of confusion arising from such publications, the FIRS hereby informs the general public, especially taxpayers, that the Minister was misquoted as saying that the administration of stamp duty was granted to NIPOST by the Finance Act 2020.

“The speech attributed to the Minister was definitely and unfortunately, quoted out-of-context,” he said.

Mr Ahmad explained that, “For the record, the Minister merely stated that NIPOST would henceforth produce the adhesive stamps required by FIRS to denote stamp duties.

“This position is in line with Section 2 of the Stamp Duties Act (as amended by Section 46 of the Finance Act 2020).”

“The FIRS, therefore, urges taxpayers, tax practitioners and the general public to ignore this unfortunate attempt to cause confusion by twisting the Honourable Minister’s speech,” he said.

Mr Ahmad described the “Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, [as] a patriot with [an] unarguable passion for the rule of law and stability of the country.”

“The FIRS remains the only federal agency permitted by law to collect Stamp Duties on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he stated.

“Therefore, the FIRS urges all taxpayers to disregard the aforementioned fake news and continue to pay their Stamp Duties charges to the FIRS nationwide,” he stated.