The Nigerian Government, through the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has issued a seven-day ultimatum to BUA Industries Limited to reconcile with the Government or pay N198.7 billion arising from non-compliance with income tax laws and Value-Added Tax (VAT) returns remittance.
The tax liability is for 2022.
A letter addressed to the Managing Director of BUA Industries Ltd, dated September 19, 2023, from Bar Beach Micro and Small Tax Office, said the failure of the company to provide the documents requested would force the service to apply the provisions of Section 65 (1) of CITA and Section 18 of the VATA to compute tax attached.
Titled: “BUA Industries Limited Non-Compliance to Income Tax Laws and Vat Returns Remittance, the letter stated that after the expiration of the 7-day ultimatum, the Service will translate the tax computation into tax liability and raise as computed and attached assessment without further recourse to you.
The letter, which was signed by Officer-II Tax, Khalid A. B., and Senior Manager Tax, Onwunali, I. C., read in part: We refer to our non-compliance letters that were dispatched and duly acknowledged by the company on 23 March 2023 (1 letter) 9 May 2023 (2 letter), 29 August 2023 (3 letter), and the minute of reconciliation meeting held on 30 August 2023.
Kindly note that your failure to provide the documents requested have left the service with no other option than to apply the provisions of Section 65 (1) of CITA and Section 18 of the VATA to compute Tax as per attached.
Recall that BUA Cement recently trended on social media, especially X (formerly Twitter), after it announced the reduction of the price of its cement to N3, 500 per bag from about N5, 000.
It said the new price regime would take effect from Monday, October 2, 2023.
