Federal Inland Revenue Service Extends Date For Filing VAT

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has extended the due date for Value Added Tax (VAT) filing for the month of April from 21 April 2023 to 30 April 2023 (new due date). No details were provided for an extension of the date.

The extension is a result of the recent changes to the value-added tax compliance processes on TaxPro MAX, a tax administration solution introduced by FIRS in June 2021 is a one-stop-shop for taxpayer registration, tax returns filing, tax payment, tax clearance certificate requesting, among other functionalities.

FIRS communicated this extension and the new due date in its public notice issued earlier this week.

According to the notice of extension from the tax watchdog, the late returns penalty will be applicable only from 30 April 2023. The FIRS has been aggressive in revenue collection in recent years with the introduction of various initiatives to raise revenue for the government. In 2022 alone, a record N2.51 trillion was generated from VAT. Last year, FIRS Announced the appointment of MTN, Airtel as well as money deposit money banks in Nigeria as its agents to deduct VAT on all taxable supplies made to them at the point of payment and remit to the service in a notice that was issued by its chairman, Muhammad Nami, not a few people were left confused on the reason or aim of the mission.

The aim is to effectively block all the leakages and raise more revenues for the government, especially in the face of dwindling revenue to the federation. Apart from that, FIRS also issued compliance guidelines on the collection or withholding of VAT by appointed agents, filing procedures for the VAT agents and their vendors suppliers, and guidelines for the refund of input tax to vendors of telecommunication companies and banks.