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SHAME! FIRS, NIPOST fight dirty over Stamp Duty tax
BY NICHOLAS ABE
Two agencies of Nigeria’s federal government, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) are at daggers drawn over which of them has the right to collect the Stamp Duty tax.
Stamp Duty, according to the Executive Chairman of FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami, is a tax payable in respect of dutiable instrument as provided under the Stamp Duties Act, CAP S8, LFN 2004 (as amended). Such instruments include agreements, contracts, receipts, memorandum of understanding (MOU), promissory notes, insurance policies and others stipulated in the Schedule to the Stamp Duties Act.
It is chargeable on both physical and electronic instruments, in two ways i.e. Ad-valorem, where duty payable is a percentage of the consideration on an instrument; or flat rate, where a fixed sum is chargeable irrespective of the consideration on dutiable instrument or document.
While FIRS is accusing NIPOST of illegally collecting the tax, the latter is accusing the former of usurping its authority.
The NIPOST in a tweet on its Twitter handle Monday stated that the office of the Accountant General of The Federation via a circular, reference TRY/A4 and B4/2006 of 20/07/06 recognised the collection of Stamp Duty by NIPOST.
Also, the circular reference TRY/A12 and B12/2015 of 29/12/15 from the same office, it said, further strengthened the power of NIPOST to collect the revenue and extended it to both physical (postage stamp) and electronic (Stamp Duty) transactions in all sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“There is nowhere in FIRS act or stamp duty act where it’s so stated that FIRS can produce stamp or sale stamp #justicefornipost.
“I like to make this clear, NIPOST is the only agency charged with the responsibility of producing adhesive stamps and revenue for the for the purchase of such stamp accrues to NIPOST #justicefornipost.
“FIRS did not only steal our stamps but also our ideas, what NIPOST had worked for since 2016, our documents, patent and sneaked everything into finance bill and tactically removed the name of NIPOST #justicefornipost,” an apparently enraged Maimuna Abubakar, Chairman board of NIPOST exploded on her Twitter handle on Sunday.
But the Director of Communication and Liaison, FIRS, Abdullahi Ahmad, in a statement titled: ‘That vexed NIPOST tweet by Mrs Maimuna Abubakar’, said FIRS was the sole agency charged with the responsibility of assessing, collecting, and accounting for all tax types, including Stamp Duties.
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The statement read, “Our attention was drawn to the tweet by Mrs. Abubakar. Her indecorous tweet would not have deserved any response but for the sensitive nature of the issue at stake, which if not sensibly treated and promptly corrected would likely mislead the public.
“To be sure, NIPOST is a government parastatal established by Decree 41 of 1992 with the function to develop, promote, and provide adequate and efficiently co-ordinated postal services at reasonable rates.
“This function is clearly contrary to the claim by NIPOST over the administration of stamp duties in Nigeria.
“It is therefore shocking to us that such a privileged young lady who happened to be appointed to high office would throw all caution to the air to cast aspersions on reputable public institutions like the National Assembly and FIRS, which she accused of stealing NIPOST idea.
“This, to say the least, is a preposterous claim and great disservice to the government and people of Nigeria.
“We wish to state categorically that, as an agency that operates within the ambit of the law, the FIRS is determined to not only ensure that all monies collected by NIPOST into its illegally operated Stamp Duties Account are fully remitted into the Federation Account but also make sure that any kobo not accounted for in that account is legally recovered in line with the charge of President Muhammadu Buhari to the recently inaugurated Inter-ministerial committee on the recovery of stamp duties from 2016 till date.
“In addition, anyone found culpable of misappropriating the funds in the said illegal NIPOST Stamp Duties Account would be made to face the law as provisioned by the country’s statute books.
“The public is hereby reminded that we at the FIRS are resolute in our resolve to safeguard national interests and not any personal ego or interest as NIPOST officials appear to carry on lately.
“We, therefore, call on right-thinking Nigerians to disregard that ill-advised tweet by Mrs. Maimuna Abubakar and allied misinformation being disseminated by NIPOST in relation to Stamp Duties collection, which by law is the responsibility of the FIRS.”