VAT Payment: FIRS Warns Defaulters on Penalties
Finance Minister
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) weekend warned that tax payers who fail to pay their Value Added Tax (VAT) were taking risk of penalties.
In a statement by the Director, Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS, Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, the Service said the warning has become necessary following a recent Federal High Court ruling in a case filed by Rivers state government that states, and not the federal government, were the ones constitutionally allowed to collect VAT.
The Service said it has since appealed against the judgment to seek a stay of execution of the order.
The statement reads, “The suit was about who has the constitutional duty for the collection of VAT and Personal income tax in Rivers State.
“We wish to inform the general public that, before the above-mentioned steps taken by the Government of Rivers State, the FIRS had lodged an appeal against the above judgment and had also filed an application for stay of execution on the judgment as well asking the Court for an injunction pending determination of the appeal.
“All parties to the suit are aware that both applications were heard on the 19th and 20th August 2021, and are awaiting the decision of the Court.
“Given that the Court of Appeal is yet to rule on the Appeal from the judgement of Federal High Court and that the Federal High Court is yet to deliver a ruling on FIRS’s applications for stay of execution and injunction, members of the public are advised to continue to comply with their Value Added Tax obligations until the matter is resolved by the appellate courts.”
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