Finance minister has not approved the taxes requested, MTN speaks on Kogi shutdown

MTN Nigeria says the minister of finance has not approved the taxes requested by the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS).

The telco’s base station in Lokoja was shut down on Wednesday leading to a disruption in services.

The state inland revenue service had alleged that the telecom service provider to remit outstanding tax liability of N120 million to the state government.

In a statement released on Friday, Tobechukwu Okigbo, MTN’s corporate relations executive, said the state government is demanding for immediate payment of Social Service Contribution levy, Employee Development levy and annual rent for Right-of-Way on fibre optics cable.

Okigbo said the Taxes and Levies Act which introduces the social service contribution and economic development levies mandates the Joint Tax Board to recommend chargeable fees which will be subject to the Minister of Finance’s approval.

“To the best of our knowledge, the Minister of Finance’s recommendation as provided in the Act is yet to be issued, and as such, it is unclear if the imposition of the fee by the Kogi State Government is on a solid legal footing,” the statement read.

“As a responsible corporate citizen, we accord the highest priority to our sub-national tax commitments. We wish to state that we have met in full all our tax obligations to the Kogi State government and are not in arrears.

“On request, we have furnished the KGIRS on multiple occasions with documentary evidence proving our full compliance with extant state laws on the matter.

“At this stage, the demands of the KGIRS, if honoured, amounts to multiple taxation and the arbitrary shut down of our base transceiver stations and harassment of our partners will stand in the way of a reasonable resolution.”