February 28, 2019

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has said that the Nigerian manufacturing sector contributed about N864 billion of the N3.63 trillion generated as Value Added Tax (VAT) between 2013 to 2018. The NBS report on Sectoral Distribution of VAT showed that the manufacturing sector’s contribution represented 24 per cent of the total VAT generated within the six-year period. A breakdown of the N3.63 trillion indicated that N481.5 billion was generated in 2013, N493.9 billion in 2014, while N759.4 billion and N777.51 billion were generated in 2015 and 2016 respectively. According to the report, N972.35 billion and N1.10 trillion were generated as VAT in 2017 and 2018 respectively, with the amount generated in 2018 VAT being the highest in the six-year period. The manufacturing sector has eight sectoral activities among the 28 sectoral categories in the report. The sector’s activities included automobiles and assemblies, breweries, bottling and beverages, as well as chemicals, paints and allied industries. Others are manufacturing, petrochemical and petroleum refineries; pharmaceutical, soaps and toiletries; publishing, printing and paper packaging; and textile and garment industries. For VAT in the six-year period, the automobiles and assemblies contributed N8,691,597,713.42,  breweries, bottling and beverages added N192,028,180,262,  and chemicals, paints and allied industries accounted for  N6,989,648,842.73. Others include manufacturing, N597,005,133,563, petrochemical and petroleum refineries, N37,013,858,414.6, and pharmaceutical, soaps and toiletries providing N7,131,243,714.78 to VAT. Similarly, Publishing, printing, paper packaging contributed N9,685,665,303.04,  while textile and garment industry added N5,501,007,456.24 to the VAT in the six-year period. Director General, Nigeria Textile Manufacturers Association, Mr. Hamma Kwajaffa, commended the  manufacturing sector’s contribution to VAT, saying there was a correlation between economic growth and VAT revenue. He said that increased contribution of manufacturing sector to VAT, especially in the fourth quarter of 2018, was driven by consumer spending during Christmas season. Kwajaffa urged the Federal Government to improve infrastructure support, fiscal incentives, financing, anti-smuggling activities and implementation of the Executive Order on patronage of locally produced goods. He said that doing these would boost the sector’s performance and invariably its contribution to VAT and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).   Source: The Sun

The Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT), Lagos Chapter, has stressed the need for improved tax revenue for national development. The group, an arm of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), which made this known during an event held in Lagos recently, said there was need to raise awareness on tax payment. In her address, the Chairperson, Mrs. Dena-Rose Ajayi said the event was organised to arouse the interest of the masses towards sourcing for tax revenue to better the society. She explained that for decades, over-reliance on oil revenue had made other sectors to suffer hence the need for the campaign. Ajayi, also pointed out that the issue at hand was very important for national development because it brings about creation of basic amenities for the citizenry. She further used the opportunity to laud the Lagos State government for its giant stride in developing the state over the years through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and urged other states to emulate Lagos. “I am very happy with Lagos State government for its giant stride in developing the state with IGR over the years. So, I urged other States to emulate this laudable feat, “she said. Meanwhile, a former President, CITN, Mr. Anthony Dike, in an interview, described the programme as a good initiative, adding that it would go a long way in boosting economic growth. He also posited that all should not be about talking alone, but the implementation of promises made so as to aid tax payers to do more. Moreover, a guest speaker during the event, Mrs. Atinuke Balogun said: “We don’t have to be the president to better the lives of the citizenry, but we can do so through our various capacities as tax professionals.” As the campaign for increased tax revenue continues, the federal government recently disclosed that it generated a total sum of N1.10 trillion as Value Added Tax (VAT) in 2018, representing a growth of 13.96 per cent (year-on-year) when compared to the N972.34billion collected in 2017. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which disclosed this, however noted that a total sum of N298.01 billion was realised in the fourth quarter (Q4, 2018), representing an increase of 8.96 per cent when compared to the N273.50 billion collected in the preceding quarter. The Sectoral Distribution of Value Added Tax (Q4 and Full Year 2018) had shown that other manufacturing generated the highest amount of VAT with N28.82 billion in Q4, closely followed by professional services and commercial and trading which both generated N24.12 billion and N16.02 billion respectively. Mining activities generated the least VAT followed by pharmaceutical, soaps & toiletries and chemical, paints and allied industries with N35.75 million, N209.33 million and N258.39 million respectively. Of the total amount generated in Q4, N138.42 billion was collected as non-import VAT locally while N47.89 billion was generated as non-import VAT for foreign.   Source: ThisDay