 |
| Defunct PHCN owes N6.5billion unremitted PAYE tax deductions |
No fewer than eight states may drag the
Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Ltd (NELM) to court over N6.5billion
unremitted Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) tax deductions from salaries of disengaged
staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Investigation showed that the states
resolved to take the action after all peaceful means to recover the money
failed to yield the required dividend from the management of NELM that acquired
PHCN. The states are owed unremitted
taxes ranging between N139 million to N2.5billion. The affected states are Abia
(N417.08m); Adamawa (N139.30m); Benue (N410.75m); Delta (N2.59billion); Kaduna
(N759.39m); Ogun (N1.26billion), Osun (N601.93m) and FIRS (N285.49m).
Leadership
report continues:
Although
it was learnt that the Office of the Joint Tax Board had intervened in the
matter, the affected states are comfortable with the huge amount involved,
especially in the face of unpaid salaries and allowances to workers in their respective
states.
The
acting chairman, Osun State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Dayo Oyebanji, who
confirmed the development, lamented that his state was being owed N601,
926,925.81 which could have assisted the government to offset part of its
salary obligation to workers.
Oyebanji
noted that efforts had been intensified through the Joint Tax Board (JTB) to
intimate NELM, which acquired the defunct PHCN, on the need to clear the
backlog of debt.
“We
are very much aware of the PHCN non-remittance of the PAYE deducted from their
staff on behalf of the state governments before it was privatized by the
federal government. It is a must for the
companies/ministries/agency/parastatals to remit PAYE deductions on monthly
basis in accordance with section 76(4) under Personal Income Tax Act,” he said.
Oyabanji
therefore appealed to NELM to expedite action on the payment or risk the full
weight of the law.
No comments:
Post a Comment