A member of the Taxation Standards and Practice Monitoring Committee of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, , Mr. Francis Ubani, has petitioned the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malamai, over some provisions of the Finance Bill 2022, saying such provisions were unconstitutional.
The taxation expert explained that these were clearly inconsistent with, and in violation of the provisions of Section 163 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, and therefore are null, void and of no effect whatsoever. He explained that the change of nomenclature from Duty to Levy does not in any way remove the powers of the relevant Tax Authorities in the States of the Federation, to charge and administer duties/levies paid by individuals on qualified chargeable instruments initiated and executed or transactions initiated and carried out between persons or individuals in the various States of the Federation, under Section 4 of the Stamp Duties Act, 2004, as amended.
“It is therefore, our contention that stamp duties collected by the Government of the Federation, through FIRS, under Section 4 cannot be paid into the Federation Account as directed by the FIRS, in paragraph 7 of the Press Release on collection and remittances of stamp duties dated 20/7/2020, and the CBN’s circulars, as doing so would be inconsistent with, and in violation of the provisions of Section 163 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as altered.
“The new Section 89A of the Finance Act, 2020, also did not render the provisions of Section 4 of the said Stamp Duties Act, 2004, as amended, ineffective, any “Transfer Levy” paid by individuals on transfers between persons or individuals is still collectible by the relevant Tax Authorities in the various States of the Federation.”
“From the provisions of the Stamp Duties Act, 2004, as amended, particularly Sections 4 of the Stamp Duties Act, as amended by Section 53 of the Finance Act, 2019, empower the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Inland Revenue Service to collect duties derivable from instruments initiated and executed or transactions initiated and carried out between a company and an individual, group or body of individuals i.e. corporate bodies.