[EXCLUSIVE] How Nigerians made Telecoms generate Highest Income Tax

• Nigerians helped the telecommunications industry to generate the highest Company Income Tax (CIT) in Q3, 2020.
• FIRS recorded more tax from business owners in the country in July, August and September.

The telecommunications industry generated N55.2bn, which accounts for 13.3% of the total Company Income Tax (CIT) recorded by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Q3, 2020.

READ ALSO; Buhari Set To Open Nigeria’s Borders

As shown in the NBS GDP report for Q3 2020, the growth rate in the telecommunication industry has been unstable since 2019.

Telecommunication industry reached its climax in the second quarter of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic that changed the cause of carrying out many activities from physical to virtual.

The GDP growth rate decreased by 17.36% in the third quarter, showing that stability is gradually occuring in the economy as business owners resume physical transactions after the lockdown was (partially) eased across the nation.

Despite this reduction in the growth rate, the Company Income Tax by Sectors for 2015-Q3 2020 shows that the telecoms sector still yielded the highest Income tax of N55.2bn, a 13.3% rate of the total CIT recorded in Q3, 2020.

READ ALSO; You can be Among the 30 Lucky Entrepreneurs to Learn how to Operate Drones

This development further confirms that that business owners are rapidly recovering from the devastating global economic crisis that was induced by coronavirus in Q2 2020.

Coronavirus had negative impact on the growth of virtually all economic sectors in Nigeria. The telecommunications sector was not left out as this was felt in the total CIT generated in Q3, 2020.

The CIT for the Q3, 2020 remained the lowest generated in the same quarter of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Other sectors that generated high income tax for the country include; the Manufacturing sector which generated N42.03bn, Banks & Financial Institutions generated N24.05bn.

READ ALSO; ALERT! AVOID ONE WAY IN LAGOS OR FORFEIT YOUR CAR

The sector with the lowest income tax was the Mining sector N120.93m, which was closely followed by Textile and Garment Industry and the Local Government Councils with N167.51m and N321.72m income tax generated respectively.

The report further shows that local businesses generated the most CIT of N244.70bn while foreign firms generated N70.34bn as CIT payment. The balance of N100.97bn was generated as CIT from other payments.