Reps C’ttee directs GTB to remit VAT on Remita from 2015-2022

The House of Representatives has asked Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) to remit Value Added Tax (VAT) on the commission received from Remita between 2015 and 2022 to the Federal Government recovery account.

The Chairman, Public Accounts Committee (PAC), of the lower chamber, Rep. Bamidele Salam (PDP- Osun), gave the directive on Thursday during the ongoing investigation into alleged revenue leakages through REMITA platform.

The committee is also investigating non-compliance with the standard operating procedure and other related matters.

Remita is a financial technology used by the Federal Government for collection of revenue from agencies of government into the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

Bamidele’s directive followed a unanimous resolution of the committee after scrutinising the records and listening to the management of the bank.

Earlier, the Executive Director of GTB, Mr Ahmed Liman, said the bank did not remit the VAT for a period of eight years.

He said that the bank believed that Remita had deducted the VAT before sharing commissions with the bank.

“We believe that Remita is saddled with the responsibility of sharing the commission fees between the payment receiving parties.

“In our mind, we think Remita has done the needful before sharing the fees between the parties,” he said.

The executive director said that the bank charged 0.75 per cent on all the payers who used the Remita platform.

He added that the bank received N254, 489, 013 from the Accountant General through Remita in 2018.

Other banks whose records are still being scrutinised by the committee include Keystone, Zenith Bank, Sterling Bank, Polaris Bank, FCMB, Ecobank and Wema.