VAT: Revenue declines by 3.01% to N289bn in Q1 2019 — NBS
Motolani Oseni
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Nigeria generated N289.04 billion from Value Added Tax (VAT) in the first quarter of 2019, representing a decline of 3.01 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 7.13 per cent increase Year-on-Year.
Currently, the Federal Government, through its agency, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, collects 5 per cent on any chargeable item.
The NBS announced the figure in a sectoral distribution of value added tax report for the first quarter, 2019 posted on the bureau’s official website.
VAT is a consumption tax placed on a product whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain – from production to the point of sale.
This tax is primarily collected by the seller when any taxable item or service is sold. The seller then nets off the VAT and submits it to FIRS through a designated bank.
The bank immediately issues an e-ticket as evidence. When this is presented to the Integrated Tax Office (ITO) a e receipt is issued.
The NBS report, however, stated that5 the amount generated within the period under review declined compared to the amount generated in the fourth quarter of 2018.
According to the report, the country generated N298.01 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, as against N289.04 billion declared during the period under review.
Analysis of the figure raked in during the first three months in 2019 shown that the manufacturing sector generated the highest VAT amount of N31.42 billion, followed by Professional Services, generating N24.31 billion, while commercial and trading generated N14.92 billion.
The NBS latest report, also, revealed that mining sector generated the least amount of N59.88 million, pharmaceuticals N201.58 million, while the Chemicals and Allied Industry generated N298.14 million.
Consequently, a total sum of N137.06 billion was generated as Non-Import VAT locally, while N98.97 billion was generated as Non-Import VAT for foreign items in the quarter under review.
The bureau, however, said the balance of N5.01 billion was generated as Nigeria-Customs Import VAT within the period under review.
The data for the report was provided by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) verified and validated by NBS.
