Reps Committee Directs GTB To Remit VAT ON REMITA Transaction For 8 Years

Following its failure to remit the revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) from 2015 to 2022, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts Committee, has directed Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) to calculate and remit same based on the commission from Remita to the Federal Government recovery accounts domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Remita is a financial solution gateway technology being used by the government for the collection of revenue for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the government to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

Hon Bamidele Salam, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, gave the directive on Thursday, September 12, 2024, at the investigative hearing into alleged revenue leakages through REMITA platform and non-compliance substantively with standard operating procedure and other allied service agreements.

The Committee specifically raised two issues on evidence of remittance of VAT components of Remita collections and collection of fees in the first regime of the Remita transaction.

In his response, Ahmed Liman, Executive Director of GTBank, said the bank did not remit the VAT for the period of eight years, stressing that the bank believes that Remita is saddled with the responsibility of sharing the commission fees between the payment receiving parties.

According to Liman; “In our mind, we think Remita has done the needful before sharing the fees between the parties. The collection of fees in the first regime of the Remita transaction, the bank charged 0.75 per cent on all the payers who used the platform”.

Liman further said that the bank received N254.4 million from the Accountant General through Remita in 2018.

Other banks that appeared before the committee included; Keystone, Sterling Bank, Polaris Bank, FCMB, Ecobank, and Wema, among others.

The committee referred the banks to the reconciliation sub-committee to sort out the discrepancies that were noted and get a new date to re-appear before it.