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The Federal Government has disclosed that the sum of N43 billion collected as stamp duty on domestic transactions is being kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Minister, Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, explained that the funds had to kept with CBN due to legal dispute between the Nigerian Postal Service (NPS) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over who take custody of the said funds
Ahmed added that the finance bill, which was passed recently, had resolved the custody battle with the act giving custody of the said fund to the FIRS.
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“The CBN has itself said it holds about N43 billion now, but in the new Finance Act recently passed by the two houses of the National Assembly, there is an amendment that is made to the Stamp Duties Act that relates to the mode of collection.
“The stamp duties, up till now, have been a subject of litigation between the Nigerian Postal Service and Federal Inland Revenue Service. So, while the banks when you make any transfer charges N50, these revenues were not accruing to government.
“The Finance Bill has made the FIRS as the collecting agency. So, that addresses the issue of the litigation. So, going forward, the revenue should be remitted as they are being collected, unlike what has happened in the past that the funds were kept in a special account because of the litigation that is going on,” Ahmed said.
Meanwhile, Nairametrics had reported that the Senate had on Tuesday instructed its Committee on Finance to investigate reasons the N20 trillion collected by banks and other financial institutions as stamp duty revenue between 2013 to 2016 was not remitted to the Federation Account.
