Economy & Politics
FIRS integrates API to verify taxes paid by Telcos
As part of the MoU which FIRS signed with NCC, it has concluded plans to integrate API technology solution,to verify the accuracy of taxes paid.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has concluded plans to integrate an Application Programming Interface (API) technology solution, which will verify the accuracy of taxes paid by telecom operators, rather than relying their account books.
This is part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which the FIRS signed with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Tuesday.
PRESS STATEMENT
*NCC, FIRS sign MoU for ascertaining VAT elements of telcos’ transactions*
Link: https://t.co/3BgV2dVRc4 pic.twitter.com/svYxa2Bg0V
— ncc.gov.ng (@NgComCommission) June 9, 2020
According to a press release signed by Dr Henry Nkemadu, Director Public Affairs, NCC, the signing ceremony took place on Tuesday in Abuja, with representatives of both agencies present.
The MOU was initiated as part of the FIRS’ efforts to ascertain accuracy and completeness of value-added tax (VAT) elements and other taxes payable in the transactions of telecom operators.
It authorises the tax agency to integrate an application programming interface (API) technology solution with the systems of telecom Operators for independent verification of the amount of VAT that should be paid by mobile network operators (MNO) rather than relying entirely on the Operators’ books of accounts.
READ MORE: Nigerians will now pay N50 stamp duty on electronic receipts – FIRS
According to the FIRS Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Muhammad Nami, the MoU is mainly “to ascertain the completeness of tax transactions of mobile service providers to the Federal Government due to the shift of physical businesses to electronic-based business activities”.
Nami noted that the API was developed in-house, and is transaction-based – structured so that the tax agency has a basis for determining the completeness and accuracy of VAT elements in telecoms transactions.”
Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, noted during the signing ceremony on Tuesday that the NCC had conducted due diligence and followed due process to understand the import of the MOU before approving it.
“Our concern, as Regulator of the telecoms industry, is that we needed to be sure that it is not another way to tax telecoms Operators, who are already dealing with multiple taxation issues.
“We have also ensured that the integration of the solutions with telcos’ transactions systems will not in any way, impact the cost and quality of service delivery by the Operators to telecoms consumers”, Danbatta assured.
He added further that this new arrangement would not degrade the quality of service delivery to customers, or increase the cost of services.
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IMF lifts 2021 global GDP growth to 6%
The group also warned that economic recoveries are diverging dangerously across and within countries.
The International Monetary Fund has lifted its global growth outlook to 6% in 2021 (0.5% point upgrade) and 4.4% in 2022 (0.2 percentage point upgrade), after an estimated historic contraction of -3.3% in 2020 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This disclosure was made on the organisation’s website on Tuesday.
The group also warned that economic recoveries are diverging dangerously across and within countries, as economies with slower vaccine rollout, more limited policy support, and more reliance on tourism do less well.
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What the IMF is saying
“The upgrades in global growth for 2021 and 2022 are mainly due to upgrades for advanced economies, particularly to a sizeable upgrade for the United States (1.3 percentage points) that is expected to grow at 6.4 percent this year.
This makes the United States the only large economy projected to surpass the level of GDP it was forecast to have in 2022 in the absence of this pandemic.
China is projected to grow this year at 8.4 percent. While China’s economy had already returned to pre-pandemic GDP in 2020, many other countries are not expected to do so until 2023.”
READ: Nigeria needs structural and monetary policy reforms to unlock potential – IMF
On divergent recoveries
The IMF stated that divergent recovery paths are likely to create wider gaps in living standards across countries compared to pre-pandemic expectations.
“The average annual loss in per capita GDP over 2020–24, relative to pre-pandemic forecasts, is projected to be 5.7 percent in low-income countries and 4.7 percent in emerging markets, while in advanced economies the losses are expected to be smaller at 2.3 percent,” they said.
“Faster progress with vaccinations can uplift the forecast, while a more prolonged pandemic with virus variants that evade vaccines can lead to a sharp downgrade. Multispeed recoveries could pose financial risks if interest rates in the United States rise further in unexpected ways.“
For Africa, IMF forecasts economic growth of 3.4% in 2021 and 4% by 2022, Nigeria is expected to grow by 2.5% in 2021 and 2.3% by 2022, while South Africa is projected to hit growths of 3.1% and 2.0% for the respective years in focus.
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In case you missed it
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified some factors that hamper the economic recovery of low-income countries from the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic, factors including access to vaccines, limited policy space to respond to the crisis, the lack of means for extra spending, pre-existing vulnerabilities such as high levels of public debt in many low-income countries and sometimes weak, negative, total factor productivity performance in some low-income countries. These factors continue to act as a drag on growth.
