By Emmanuel Udodinma
The Nigerian government, represented by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has given BUA Industries Limited a seven-day deadline to either resolve their issues with the government or settle a sum of N198.7 billion resulting from their failure to adhere to income tax regulations and the remittance of VAT returns.
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This is contained in a letter dated September 19, 2023, titled: “BUA Industries Limited Non-Compliance To Income Tax Laws And Vat Returns Remittance,” and addressed to the Managing Director of BUA Industries Limited, bearing reference number BBMSTO/RPP/22380531-0001, originates from the Bar Beach Micro and Small Tax Office.
The letter signed by Officer II Tax, Khalid A. B., and Senior Manager Tax, Onwunali, I. C. emphasises that if the company does not furnish the requested documents, the tax service would be compelled to utilise the provisions outlined in Section 65 (1) of the CITA and Section 18 of the VATA for tax calculation purposes.
In the letter, it was clearly stated that following the conclusion of the seven-day ultimatum, the tax service would proceed to convert the tax calculation into a tax liability, and subsequently issue an assessment based on the computed amount, without any additional opportunity for recourse.
“We refer to our non-compliance letters that were dispatched and duly acknowledged by the company on 23 March 2023 (1 letter) 9 May 2023 (2 letter), 29 August 2023 (3 letter) and the minute of reconciliation meeting held on 30 August 2023.
“Kindly note that your failure to provide the documents requested have left the service with no other option than to apply the provisions of Section 65 (1) of CITA and Section 18 of the VATA to compute Tax as per attached.
“You are hereby given 7 days to respond if you disagree with our position, otherwise the service will translate the tax computation into tax liability and raise as computed and attached assessment without further recourse to you,” the letter reads.
Recall that BUA Cement PLC recently trended on social media, especially X (formerly Twitter) following its announcement to reduce the price of its cement to N3,500 per bag from about N5,000, which it said the new price regime would take effect from Monday, October 2, 2023.
