The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has cried out over the recent policy by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) – TaxPro Max, describing it as another heavy burden on organised businesses.

The employers’ body lamented that the policy negates the Federal Government’s efforts on the ease of doing business.

In a letter sighted by our reporter, which was addressed to the Chairman of FIRS, NECA demanded an immediate reversal of the policy pending the amicable resolution of the challenges inherent in it and the establishment of its legality.

Director-General of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, in the letter titled, ‘Re: Input VAT Claim Restriction On TaxPro Max and its Impact on Organised Businesses’, lamented that the policy was tantamount to the FIRS abdicating its responsibility to collect Value Added Tax (VAT) from suppliers.

Noting that it places unnecessary administrative burden on businesses, Oyerinde said the policy also lacks legal foundation to impose additional burden on purchasers of raw materials and retailers in view of Section 15(1) and Section 17 of the VAT Act, among others.

He stated that organised businesses had been faced with multi-dimensional challenges in recent time, stressing that the policies and programmes of government or its agencies should ordinarily promote enterprise sustainability and competitiveness.

The NECA chief said despite FIRS’ efforts at creating awareness on the new policy through stakeholders’ engagement, the effort was vexatious and belated, as the engagement should have preceded the implementation of the policy.

According to him, “we view the belated enlightenment as an attempt to confer legality on an otherwise illegal issue.”

Oyerinde said the current approach of paying to the supplier and waiting for the supplier to remit and upload on TaxPro Max was counter-productive to the FIRS and taxpayers with the potential to further portray Nigeria as an inhospitable environment to do business.

“Where the objective of the FIRS is to ensure input VAT claimed by purchasers is remitted by suppliers, the FIRS may appoint purchasers as agents of collection, whereby they pay the VAT charged by suppliers directly to the FIRS and claim the corresponding input VAT,” he added. (The Guardian)

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