Company taxes paid via e-channels surge to most in 5yrs

Companies operating in Nigeria paid the highest amount of taxes via e-channels since 2015 last year.

Although there was a decline in the total amount of taxes paid in 2020, operating companies wired a total of N238.1 billion as company income tax (CIT) in the period, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

That’s about 16.9 percent of the total CIT in the period, and the highest since 2015, as companies adopt safer online methods in paying their taxes to avoid being exposed to the virus.

The surge in the payment of taxes via electronic channels, somewhat aligned with McKenzie reports on current trends, showing that companies and consumer patterns are tilting more than ever to online channels, courtesy of the pandemic.

According to the NBS data, the payments include CIT paid through E-transact, E-tax pay and Remita.

Meanwhile as expected, total CIT payment in the period fell by 13.5 percent to N1.41 trillion in 2020 from N1.63 trillion in 2019, as the global pandemic took a toll on companies revenues, thereby constraining their ability to pay more taxes.

A further breakdown of the data showed that taxes paid by Nigerian companies fell 2.78 percent in the period to N790.58 billion in 2020 from N813.17 in 2019.

Payments from international companies, which NBS noted are bulk payment from the likes of JP Morgan, also fell to N388.77 billion in the period from N615.52 billion in 2019.