Unpaid Tax: Another State Govt Shuts GTB Branches

A week after some of its branches in Kaduna State were shut down for alleged failure to meet its tax obligations to the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, another tax authority has taken sanctions against GTB supposedly for the same reason.

The Niger State Internal Revenue Service (NGSIRS) on Monday shut down branches of GTB and seven other commercial banks and the state head office of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company  (AEDC) over alleged N456 million tax debts.

Mr Mohammed Etsu, the Executive Chairman of the internal revenue Service, told journalists following the exercise that it was carried out in line with the provisions of the relevant tax laws of the state.

“What we are doing is in line with the provisions of the relevant tax laws,” he said.

Etsu identified the affected banks and their liabilities as: Stanbic IBTC (N113.2 million) Polaris Bank (N74.8 million), Union bank (N47.1 million), Heritage Bank (N31.5 million) Unity Bank (N14 million) and GTB (N8.2 million) among the defaulting banks owing taxes to the govt.

Other defaulting  organisations, he said, were: AEDC Plc, with a debt of  N45.8 million, Aloe Vera International Hotel, in Minna, (N3.9 million) and Rashida Restaurant, also in Minna, (N3.2m).

The Chairman explained that all efforts by the Service to make the defaulting organisations pay their respective tax liabilities, yielded no positive results, thereby leading to the sealing of their business premises.

He called on other debtors to pay their outstanding tax liability, to avoid sealing of their offices by the Service, as the tax drive exercise was a continuous one.

Reacting to the development, however, Dr Sidikat Shitu, a Minna resident, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said she went to withdraw money at one of the branches of the affected banks only to meet it sealed.

Shitu said the exercise, which took the customers of the various banks by surprise, had brought untold hardship to the people, as the banks were sealed off, preventing members of the public from transacting any business.

“I have an emergency to attend to but I cannot withdraw money here now,” she lamented.

NAN reports that the banks and other organisations, owing the NGSIRS were yet to reconcile with the Service, as at the time of filing this report.  (NAN)

Branches of GTB, Sterling Bank and some other organisations were closed down by Kaduna tax authorities for allegedly failing to pay tax obligations to the state government on August 30, 2021.

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