AVIATION

Stakeholders call for review, clarity on ticket commissions by FIRS

Stakeholders across the aviation sector in Nigeria have urged the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to review and clarify its recent policy that compelled travel agents to pay taxes on air ticket commission.

In the policy, the FIRS also mandated travel agents to pay another tax on their corporate organisations’ activities.

The key players, at a conference held in Lagos, descried the payment of taxes on ticket commissions and another on corporate organisations’ activities by the travel agents as multiple taxation that should be reviewed.

It was, therefore, suggested that all stakeholders affected by the multiple charges, taxes, duties and tariffs should collaborate to move against such policies that do not encourage them.

To achieve the purpose, the affected stakeholders were advised to partner with a foremost non-profitable organisation in the sector, the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiatives (ASRTI), to lobby the various arms of government towards streamlining the charges and to encourage the growth of the industry.

Participants also said it would be necessary to produce a draft legislation related to taxes, tariffs, charges and forward same to the National Assembly for review and passage into law

The gathering equally emphasised how clearance of identification and listing of all charges, taxes, duties and tariffs as provided for in the schedule from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) would help provide an opportunity for payers to better understand, interrogate and possibly eliminate some extraneous and duplicitous charges, taxes, duties and tariffs in the system.

The meeting provided an opportunity for the stakeholders to challenge every agency to make a comprehensive list of its charges available in the manner of the NCAA, which created a room for a more transparent understanding of charges.

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