Of the 38 taxes paid by telecoms, only 10 are applicable to the industry—ATCON
The President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Engineer Olusola Teniola has revealed that out of a total of 38 taxes which telecom companies are made to be paying, “only 10 are applicable to the industry”.
Some of the taxes include right of way, annual operating levy, corporation tax, custom duty and stamp duty.
In an interview weekend, he called for harmonisation of all taxes in our industry by the Federal Ministry of Finance, saying “if it is done, things will be better”.
“If the taxes are harmonised, the Federal Government can distribute taxes paid at the federal level to the state and local government.
“That way, state and local governments will stop asking for money that is not even paid at the federal level.
“Likewise, local government should go to the state to request for its share of taxes paid by the industry,” he said.
According to him, the telecom industry annually contributes N450 billion in forms of taxes to Nigeria’s economy; a sum it has been paying in the last five years to the three tiers of government.
He said that certain taxes including corporation and Pay As You Earn were statutory, claiming that multiple taxes and some other levies made up the sum.
To him, “These levies represent N200 billion out of the N450 billion we pay annually.
“This extra N200 billion we are paying can be used to effectively roll out our networks and improve quality of services,’’ he averred.
In his further submission, Teniola made a passionate appeal saying, the state and local governments should align taxes which have things in common.
