‘Airlines only exempted from import duty, VAT’ — Customs tackles Air Peace

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says airlines are only exempted from paying duty and value-added tax (VAT) on imported aeroplanes and spare parts.

In a statement on Tuesday, Joseph Attah, public relations officer of the service, said the airlines are required to pay other import charges.

Attah explained that the exemption is in line with Section 39 of the 2020 finance act.

Section 39 of the act provides that airlines registered in Nigeria and providing commercial air transport services are entitled to duty-free importation of their aircraft, engines, spare parts and components whether purchased or leased.

Attah was reacting to media reports quoting Allen Onyema, chief executive officer of Air Peace, as saying the NCS is still collecting duty and VAT in defiance of the executive order of the federal government on commercial aeroplanes and spare parts.

“The act grants exemptions to Customs duty and VAT only. Such imports are therefore still required to pay appropriate charges on ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) and Comprehensive Imports Supervision Scheme (CISS), ” he said.

“It was therefore in-line with the extant regulations that NCS did not collect duty and VAT on Air Peace recent import of E195-E2 with registration No. 5N-BYE but restricted itself to the collection of ETLS and CISS which amounted to the sum of N189,000,000.”

Air Peace recently took delivery of its second brand new Embraer E195- E2 aircraft in Abuja.