Value Added Tax: You’ll Now Pay 7.5% as Tax on Every Call Made, Data Purchased and SMS Sent

Wonders never cease. Nigerian Telecoms providers now bidding every subscriber to pay a tax of 7.5%. Either for sending SMS, purchasing data, or making calls.

Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the country’s finance bill into law, with a sweeping effect on Nigeria’s fiscal laws. The government believed that the new tax regime will not adversely affect Nigerians, but that seems not to be authentic.

Subscribers are already complaining bitterly on social media that the VAT shouldn’t apply to calls and data, but apparently, the telecoms vow to be dumb regarding it.

So we try to experiment how much VAT is charged on Calls, and this is what we got after placing a 6 seconds call across to a friend. For 6 seconds calls, I was charged N2. 67k and for 10sec call, I was charged N5.

Below is the pop-up message received by a subscriber, after making calls.

For SMS that was supposed to be N4, it is now N4.10 for every SMS you send.

Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has notified Nigerians on the application of the new VAT rate on all purchased telecommunication products and services with effect from the 1st of February 2020.

Quote

“Dear Customer, In accordance with the Finance bill 2019 signed on 13th January 2020, the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate has been revised from 5% to 7.5% with effect from 00:00 Hrs 1st February 2020. “As a result, the prices of our data plans, devices & accessories have been revised to reflect the revised 7.5% VAT rate from 00:00 Hrs 1st February 2020. Thanks for your usual co-operation”, a message from Spectranet, one of Nigeria’s internet provider, reads.

7.5% VAT isn’t for the rich or poor Nigerians, it is for everybody… Telecommunications, Electricity, Television, Food & Beverages, Petroleum companies will now collect VAT every time they bill you.

I hope you have been charged too for this 7.5% VAT rate or not?

Share your encounters in the comment section below.