FIRS Clarifies 6% Stamp Duty Charge on Tenancy And Lease Agreement

The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS has given clarifications on its decision to impose a stamp duty charge on tenancy and lease agreements.

Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Muhammad Nami made the clarifications while speeaking at a webinar organised by OTISVIP.

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Nami explained that the six percent stamp duty charge on tenancy earlier announced will only apply to tenancy and lease agreements that are above 21 years.

He emphasized that tenancy and lease agreements less than seven years would only carry a 0.78 percent stamp tax while agreements between seven and 21 years will carry a 3 percent charge.

Nami beckoned on Nigerians to simply accept the obvious fact that the country can not rely solely on crude revenue to fund the National budget, hence the necessity to embrace taxation as the new normal of national economic policy.

A statement released by Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, director of FIRS communications and liaison department partly read;

“While all panellists agreed on the need for taxation to complement government’s revenue flow from natural resources, a lively debate ensued on the timing of the stamp duty campaign and the public debate surrounding the application of tax revenue in the nation-building processes, especially in building public infrastructure.”

“The panellists stressed the need for prudent management of tax revenue even as they enjoined Nigerians to embrace the fact that the tax net needs to get wider to accommodate more citizens for holistic national development.”