Stamp Duty Brouhaha: FIRS, NIPOST Regret Spat

By Chuks Ekpeneru

The heads of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) have regretted the public spat over collection of stamp duty in the country.

Both government agencies had been at logger head over who controls stamp duty collection and invariably the money which accrues from the collection.

At their appearance presentation before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, they regretted that as agencies of the government, FIRS and NIPOST allowed a simple situation to degenerate to media exposure.

However, Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami, said payment of stamp duties collection in Nigeria dates back 94 years ago and have been part of the revenue schedule of tax authority.

He disclosed that it currently generates N3 billion weekly from stamp duty collection.

He said the revenue had been generated weekly from May 2020 till date from Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

Nami noted that deployment of a new technology, Application Programming Interface (API) technology solution, which is online real-time technology, makes the collection of stamp duties easier.

In a statement, he said: “The FIRS regrets that as agencies of the government, FIRS and NIPOST allowed a simple situation to degenerate to media exposure.”

However, the Postmaster General/Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, Dr. Ismail Adewusi, described the feud between FIRS and his agency as needless.

He said: “As a prelude, it’s important to make this remark. NIPOST is not a tax collecting agency. We are not in the business of collecting taxes, that’s not our mandate. But our role in stamp duty is clearly stated in the law.

“The issue is, the Finance Act, 2019 did not in any way stop NIPOST from its mandate. In spite of the amendment to the Finance Act, it has not affected the responsibility of NIPOST. There is no fight between NIPOST and FIRS over tax collection,” he said.

He, however, insisted that the responsibility of procuring stamp rests with NIPOST but appealed that, the agency is entitled to its share of the stamp duty proceeds it collected and domiciled in the CBN from 2016 to 2020.

He said: “All the monies that accrued to the account include proceeds of stamp sales. In the spirit of peace, we want FIRS to look at the issue. We deserve in sharing the cost of collection. At the initial meeting, FIRS said they will give us 30 percent and take 70 percent, we said no.”

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