FIRS pledges support for domestic airlines

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has pledged to support domestic airlines to ensure they remain in operation and are able to meet their Value Added Tax (VAT) remittance obligations.

The Assistant Secretary of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Mr Ewos Iroro, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Lagos.

Iroro stated that the pledge was made by the FIRS Chairman, Mr Babatunde Fowler, during a recent meeting with a delegation from AON and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Abuja.

He quoted Fowler as saying “the Federal Government recognised the challenges being faced by domestic airlines and was willing to meet them half way with regards to tax laws.”

Fowler advised the AON to engage the Presidency through the Department on The Ease of Doing Business, the Senate and the Minister of Finance to dialogue on how the laws could be amended.

This, he said, would enable the airlines to be at par with their competitors and also address the challenges by coming up with a lasting solution.

The FIRS boss proposed that airlines should be given concession of two months after the billing period (M+2) to make their VAT remittances.

He said the move gave room for reconciliation and for airlines to recoup their credit sales.

In his response, the Chairman of AON, Capt. Nogie Meggison, noted that there was need to clarify the automation payment process and a 30-day period to allow for invoicing, reconciliation and billing before payment.

Meggisson appealed to Fowler to take a closer look into the issue of VAT for domestic air transportation in Nigeria.

According to him, if VAT is to be removed, it will make fares affordable for passengers with fewer funds to fly, thereby increasing turnover generated by airlines.

Meggisson added that it would also lead to increased revenue for FIRS from more passenger traffic, more landings and a boost of other direct and indirect businesses linked to aviation.

He added that “Accra has become the hub for doing business in West Africa today due to the fact that Ghana has adopted a deliberate economic policy to make Accra a hub for West Africa.

“And as a way of achieving this, it has adopted zero VAT for air transportation and lowered taxes on Jet A1 by 25 per cent which attracts more airlines to fly into the country for technical stops and for connections to cities around the world.

“This has had multiplier effect on the economy and greatly increased activities in the sector and the country at large.

“Nigeria therefore needs to take a bold economic step to jump-start aviation in order to make aviation the fourth contributor to the Gross Domestic Product, create jobs and make Nigeria the hub for Africa.”