$2bn tax remittance: MTN Nigeria complying with payment plan, says Zainab Ahmed

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, says MTN Nigeria has a payment plan with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to remit $2 billion tax demand

Ahmed announced this when she received Ayodele Adeleke, National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) commandant, in Abuja on Friday.

“MTN is owing the government but there has been a payment plan undertaken with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) they are following,” the minister said.

“They are in Nigeria and have investments all over the country and are following through with the payment commitment made with the FIRS.”

In 2018, Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, asked MTN Nigeria to pay a total sum of $2 billion in tax arrears which covered import duties, value added tax (VAT), and withholding taxes on foreign imports/payments.

The federal government had said the multinational telecoms firm owed taxes from 2007 to 2017.

In January 2020, the $2 billion tax demand against MTN Nigeria was withdrawn.

The case was subsequently referred to the FIRS and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) with a view to settling the dispute amicably.

Earlier in August, the telecommunications services provider announced plans to reconstruct the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, under the road infrastructure task credit (RITC) scheme.

The RITC scheme is a public-private partnership (PPP) intervention that grants income tax credit to companies and individuals that provide funding for the refurbishment and rehabilitation of roads.