The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has ordered Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) to calculate and remit Value Added Tax (VAT) collected on commissions earned through the Remita platform between 2015 and 2022.
This directive was issued during an investigative hearing on revenue leakages tied to the Remita platform and non-compliance with standard procedures on Thursday.
Rep. Bamidele Salam, Chairman of the PAC, announced the ruling after GTB, alongside several other banks, appeared before the committee.
The hearing focused on irregularities in the remittance of VAT and discrepancies in the collection of fees related to Remita transactions.
GTB’s Executive Director, Ahmed Liman, admitted that the bank had not remitted VAT on commissions it received over the eight-year period.
He explained that GTB believed Remita was responsible for handling the distribution of commission fees between the relevant parties, implying that VAT remittance was part of Remita’s obligations.
The committee also scrutinized GTB’s fee collection during the initial phase of the Remita transaction process.
Liman disclosed that the bank charged 0.75 percent on all payments made via the platform and confirmed that in 2018 alone, GTB received N254,489,013 from the Accountant General’s office through Remita.
Following this revelation, the committee directed GTB to refund the VAT for the years in question to the federal government’s recovery account, held at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Other banks, including Keystone, Zenith, Sterling, Polaris, FCMB, Ecobank, and Wema, were also present at the hearing.
They were referred to a reconciliation sub-committee to resolve discrepancies noted during the session, with instructions to return for further deliberations.
