FIRS plans clampdown on foreign cargo airlines, shippers evading taxes

The Federal Inland Revenue Service has accused many foreign firms in the maritime and aviation industries of lifting cargo out of Nigeria without paying taxes.

Already, the FIRS said it would soon commence a back-end tax audit on operators in the two subsectors in the transportation industry and clamp down those found to be evading taxes.

Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami, stated this on Thursday while delivering an address at the Pedabo Thought Leadership event.

The FIRS in July appointed some banks as agents to recover N1.8 trillion from accounts of Messrs MultiChoice Nigeria Limited (MCN) And MultiChoice Africa (MCA) over evasion of Value Added tax (VAT) payment.

A Federal High Court this week dismissed the appeal of MultiChoice on the case, clearing way for FIRS to recover the sum while the DSTV and GOTV operator insisted on no wrongdoing.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Johannes Afolabi Wojuola, said, “The FIRS will soon launch a tax audit exercise on operators in the maritime and aviation industries.” And the back-end pre-audit activities will be in collaboration with regulatory authorities which are in an advanced stage.”

The chairman, therefore, urged all foreign companies that have lifted cargo (including crude oil) out of Nigeria without paying tax to voluntarily come forward to regularise their tax positions, adding that those who wait for the audit would not be taken lightly.

“Tax authorities are unable to police these foreign companies because the transportation contracts are executed outside Nigeria and the tax authorities do not have the lifting schedules of the vessels ahead of their arrival in Nigeria,” he stated.