Reps panel tells GTB remit 7 years VAT into FG account

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has asked the Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB, to pay into the Federal Government’s Account seven year of Value Added Tax, VAT based on calculation of VAT from REMITA transaction between 2015-2022

The directive followed revelation by the Guaranty Trust Bank Executive Director, Ahmed Liman, stating that the GTB did not remit the VAT for the period of seven years.

The revelation was given at the Public Accounts Committee public hearing on Thursday in Abuja.

Responding to questions by the panelists, the GTB Executive Director said, the Bank was of the belief that REMITA’s responsibility include sharing the commission fees between the payment receiving parties.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Bamidele Salam who presided over Thursday’s investigative hearing into the alleged revenue leakages through REMITA platform and non-compliance substantively with standard operating procedure and other allied service agreements, directed a refund of the commission meant for the Federal Government of all REMITA transactions.

Remita is a financial solution gateway technology used by the federal government for the collection of revenue for ministries, departments, and agencies to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The panel 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.

GTB said: “In our mind, we think Remita has done the needful before sharing the fees between the parties.”
Liman also said 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.

The executive director added that the bank received N254.4 million from the Accountant General through Remita in 2018.

The committee resolved that the bank should calculate and remit the VAT on the commission fees received from the platform from 2015 to 2022 to the federal government recovery accounts domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Other banks that appeared before the committee on the same issues were Keystone, Sterling Bank, Polaris Bank, FCMB, Ecobank, and Wema, among others.

The committee referred the aforementioned banks to the reconciliation sub-committee in order to address the discrepancies that were noted and get a new date to re-appear before the panel.