Happy new month friends and I wish you all a fruitful month ahead void of any evil. Stay safe out of their guys.
FG is set to implement a 5% VAT on the GSM calls you make, text, and data usage. If you can recall, in February 2020, a 7.5% tax was implemented which affects calls, data, and SMS. What this means is that you’ll now be paying 12.5% vat (a 5% inclusive excise duty) on telecommunications services in Nigeria.
With this policy, for every call made by telecom subscribers, they would now pay five percent of the total cost of the voice call, which would be deducted from the subscriber’s account by the telecom operator, and remit the same to the government.
The five percent excise duty is an additional fee that the telecom subscriber pays, which is different from the cost of voice call the federal government disclosed.
FG said the 5% excise duty had been in the finance Act: 2020 but was not implemented. Subscribers are already complaining on social media that the VAT shouldn’t apply to calls and data but apparently, the FG will implement it.
The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, however, said operators would not be able to subsidize the five percent excise duty on telecom services as a result of the 39 multiple taxes that they pay, coupled with the epileptic power situation that had compelled operators to spend so much on diesel.
if you are not yet utilizing WhatsApp calls, then it is time to start using it, or else, you won’t be able to escape the 12.5% tax ahead.