By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said on Tuesday that contrary to some media reports, the collection of Stamp Duties still remains its responsibility.
A statement by the Director of Communications and Liaison Department, Mr Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad in Abuja said the purported reports misquoted a recent speech by the Minister for Communications and Digital Economy on the administration of Stamp Duties in the country.
According to the statement, given the confusion arising from such publications, “the FIRS hereby informs the general public, especially taxpayers, that the Honourable 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”.
The statement explained that 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 Director therefore, urged taxpayers, tax practitioners and the general public to ignore such media reports which according to him was an attempt to cause confusion by twisting the Minister’s speech.
“The FIRS remains the only federal agency permitted by law to collect Stamp Duties on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Therefore, the FIRS urges all taxpayers to disregard the aforementioned fake news and continue to pay their Stamp Duties charges to the FIRS nationwide”, Ahmad added
