RMAFC to recover N100b stamp duty funds from banks

COMMERCIAL banks are to be probed over stamp duty collections, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has said.

A statement by the Commission’s spokesperson, Ibrahim Mohammed, said the probe would involve a forensic investigation of the funds collected as stamp duty by 22 Deposit Money Banks (DMB) between 2000 and last year.

RMAFC is the only constitutional body vested with the powers to monitor all revenue accruals into the Federation Account.

The statement reads: “The commercial banks have been deducting the sum of N50 on every deposit with a value of N1, 000 and above since January 2000. At the moment, the total sum of N33 billion has been realised through the collection of stamp duties which falls far below the expectation of stakeholders. It is expected that at the end of the exercise, over N100 billion would be recovered.

“Arrangements have been made to engage the services of reputable forensic audit firms to carry out the probe of the banks. The probe will be comprehensive as it will cover the affixed stamp used on cheque books prior to the introduction of electronic transactions.”

In the same vein, the Commission observed that “if NIPOST is properly repositioned through appropriate legal and regulatory framework and the introduction of appropriate technology, the Agency can generate over N500 billion.”

RMAFC appealed to the National Assembly and the Federal Government to initiate measures for the amendment of the NIPOST Act to enable it to expand the economy and attract more revenue.

Besides the planned probe, RMAFC has also embarked on the reconciliation of signature bonuses and other miscellaneous revenues from the oil and gas industry “to enable the Commission engage other stakeholders with a view to reducing revenue leakages and enhance remittance into the Federation Account.”

The Commission has approached other stakeholders, especially the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for support.