Strong indication has emerged on the possibility of the reintroduction of the suspended excise duty on telecom services come next year if feelers from the House of Representatives are anything to go by.
Facts from a document titled ‘Invitation to a One Day Public Hearing and Submission of Memoranda on the 2022 Finance Bill,’ released by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, indicated that suspended excise duty on telecoms services may feature again in the 2022 Finance Bill, which is currently before the National Assembly.
Already, the Committee is conducting a public hearing on the 2022 Finance Bill and one of the subjects on the agenda is the discussion of telecoms as one of the goods liable to excise duty.
The Reps paper said in parts: “Telecommunication services provided in Nigeria shall be charged with duties of excise at the rates specified under the duty column in the Schedule as the President may by Order prescribe pursuant to section 13 of this Act.”
It added all telecommunication services in Nigeria shall be charged with duties of excise at “the rates specified under the duty column in the Schedule as the President may by Order prescribe pursuant to section 13 of this Act”.
Additional details aver that the amendment was necessary to expand the scope of duties beyond the telecoms sector to avoid an undue focus on levying duties on this sector, adding that would remove the limitation of the scope of services that may be subject to excise duty.
Whereas the document did not specify the rate at which the excise duty would be charged, it further stated that the need to increase revenue generation/tax administration was the reason for the proposed excise duty on telecom services.
Business Hilights recalls that in July, the Federal Government announced plans to implement a five per cent excise duty on telecoms services by the Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, at a forum organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
