GTbank has been tasked by PAC to remit 8 years VAT on commission received through Remita transactions to federal government
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) to calculate and remit the Value Added Tax (VAT) on commissions received through Remita transactions between 2015 and 2022 to the federal government’s recovery accounts.
Remita is a payment gateway technology used by the federal government to collect revenues for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) into the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
During an ongoing investigation into alleged revenue leakages and non-compliance with standard operating procedures on the Remita platform on Thursday, PAC, chaired by Rep. Bamidele Salam (PDP Osun), raised concerns over the bank’s failure to remit VAT for an eight-year period. The investigation is part of efforts to address revenue to losses linked to the platform.
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GTBank’s Executive Director, Mr. Ahmed Liman, explained that the bank believed Remita was responsible for managing the VAT obligations before distributing fees to the various parties involved. However, he acknowledged that VAT had not been remitted by GTBank for the commission it earned during the period in question.
“We believe that Remita is responsible for sharing the commission fees between the payment receiving parties, and we thought Remita had already fulfilled the necessary obligations before disbursing the fees,” Liman told the committee.
He also responded to queries regarding fees collected in the initial phase of the Remita transaction, revealing that GTBank charges 0.75% on all payments made through the platform. Liman disclosed that the bank received N254,489,013 from the Accountant General in 2018 through Remita transactions.
Following this revelation, PAC ordered GTBank to calculate and remit the VAT on the commission fees it received between 2015 and 2022 to the federal government’s recovery accounts, which are domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Other banks, including Keystone, Zenith Bank, Sterling Bank, Polaris Bank, FCMB, Ecobank, and Wema Bank, also appeared before the committee on similar issues. The PAC referred these banks to its reconciliation sub-committee to resolve discrepancies identified in their reports. They are expected to reconcile their accounts and reappear before the committee at a later date.
STAR CHECK: Nigerians, particularly, constituents of Ede North,South/Egbedero/Ejigbo federal constituency, can keep tabs on the legislative performance of Rep. Salam throughout the 10th House here
