With effect from 1st of March to 31st March, 2022, taxpayers with pending foreign currency tax liabilities will be able to settle these obligations in Naira during the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) one-month window, Muhammad Nami, the Service’s Executive Chairman, has said.

Nami, disclosed this in a public notice signed by his media aide, Johannes Oluwatobi Wojuola ,Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman, FIRS

According to the FIRS, several taxpayers have contacted it regarding financial difficulties obtaining foreign currencies to offset outstanding taxes owed.

The notice said: “In view of the number of requests, enquiries and the challenges encountered by the taxpaying public in sourcing for foreign currencies to offset outstanding tax liabilities, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (“the Service”) wishes to inform our esteemed taxpayers that a one-month window has now been opened for this category of taxpayers to settle their foreign currency tax liabilities in Naira with effect from the 1st of March, 2022 to 31st of March, 2022.”

The Service clarified that this concession is a one-off opportunity since the law provides that the currency a taxpayer transacts in is the currency with which to pay the tax.

“The extant provision is that the currency of the transaction should be the currency with which the tax is paid. However, this is a one-off window/concession, and the Service would no longer entertain any such request from the taxpaying public,” it says.

The Notice further stated that: “The applicable rate shall be the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Foreign Exchange Rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) prevailing on the date of the transaction and or when the tax obligation falls due.

The Notice explained that this window covers all such liabilities that have falling due for payment on or before 31st December, 2021, and for all taxes except the Petroleum Profit Tax.

“This concession is available to all taxpayers, covers all tax types, and all foreign currency tax liabilities falling due on or before 31st December 2021, except for companies in the Upstream (Oil & Gas) Sector, and the Petroleum Profits Tax.”

In order to qualify for this program, taxpayers within this category will have to make all payments before 31st March, 2022, and, upon payment, the relevant documents relating to the transaction will have to be forwarded to the Office of the Executive Chairman, along with a copy to the local tax office where the taxpayer’s file is located.