Domestic airlines get 2 months grace period from FIRS to remit VAT

By Lawani Mikairu

THE Chairman of  FIRS, Dr. Babatunde Fowler has given two month grace period on remission of Value Added Tax, VAT, to airline operators in the country. He made the  concession during a meeting in his office with a delegation of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and IATA.

According to Fowler: “ We agree that the airline industry is challenged. Government is not out to make profit but to make life more comfortable for the people. Exemptions on tax issues are beyond FIRS as they do not make the law. So, all we can do is an offer to make it   easier to give domestic airlines a soft landing by meeting them halfway in order to obey the tax laws.”

As a way of giving domestic airlines a soft landing ,Fowler proposed that because of the payment structure FIRS can give airlines a concession of two months after “ the billing period (M+2) to make their VAT remittances so that collections done now are swept during the upper month instead of the following month immediately after so as to give room for reconciliation and for airlines to recoup their credit sales. Even with the AutoCollect, we can programme it at 50% so that way we don’t expect everything to be swept off at once,”Fowler added.

Responding , the Chairman of AON, Capt. Nogie Meggison noted that: “Airlines have no issue with paying or collecting the statutory VAT for FIRS but that there was need to take a look into the issue of fairness against our competitors, clarity on the automation as well as, a 30 days period to allow for invoicing and reconciliation.

 

 

 

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