The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has said it will refund the N360million and $2million excess withholding tax (WHT) deducted from Arco Petrochemicals Engineering Company Limited, through its business dealings with General Electric (GE) International Operations Nigeria Limited.
This was contained in a letter obtained by The Guardian, dated July 26, 2018, and directed to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Limited, (tax advisers to GE) with reference number: FIRS/TPAD/GEN/272/V.IX/.
The FIRS said: “In respect of the treatment of excess WHT deducted from Arco and remitted to FIRS, Arco has either of the following two options: To formally apply to FIRS for the refund of the excess WHT deducted so long as there is evidence of remittance to the FIRS account; or to use same to offset its future tax liabilities.”
Arco claimed that GE deducted 10 per cent as withholding tax for a contract between 2006 and 2015, against the five per cent stipulated by Nigerian law.
GE, a multinational company operating in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, had engaged Arco for the supply of local personnel.
The FIRS, in the letter signed by its Executive Chairman, Tunde Fowler, also urged PwC to ensure that GE made available to Arco all outstanding WHT Credit notes in respect of remittances made in its favour.
Meanwhile, Arco’s interpretation of the contract of supply is that the applicable WHT rate should be five per cent in line with the FIRS Circular No. 2006/02, dated February 2006.
https://www.hopefornigeriaonline.com/saraki-never-acted-national-interest-says-oshiomhole/
