By Dansu Peter
He noted that MATAN was buoyed by the need to stamp out multiple taxation and extortion that had been endemic in their space over the years, making them launch the Integrated Market Revenue Management System (IMRMS), designed essentially to harmonize members’ revenue with the government's remittance system, such as the Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Value Added Tax (VAT), thereby creating inherent opportunities for the market and traders.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced it has begun the implementation of the Integrated Market Revenue Management System (IMRMS).
IMRMS is a purpose-built digital platform to capture the informal sector, especially market traders, in the federal government’s tax net.
The FIRS is partnering with the Market Traders Association of Nigeria (MATAN), the umbrella body for all trading associations in Nigeria, to collect and remit value-added tax (VAT) from traders in the marketplace using the IMRMS platform.
The collaboration, known as the VAT Direct Initiative (VDI), is part of a push to widen the government’s tax base.
MATAN is the largest player in Nigeria’s market space, with a membership of well over 40 million traders across the country.
Under the arrangement, MATAN is expected to digitally enumerate its members, give them a digital identity, and track their turnover so that the VAT accrued is collected and remitted to the FIRS.
Through this initiative, the FIRS will help tackle multiple forms of taxation in the marketplace through partnerships with security agencies to curb the activities of touts, miscreants, and self-imposed tax collectors involved in illegal tax collection in Nigeria’s market spaces.
Speaking at an official commencement of the traders enumeration exercise in Abuja, Mr. Adebayo Adefeogbe, a director in the FIRS, said the initiative would grant the government coordinated access to almost 70 percent of untax revenue in the informal sector.
He said collecting VAT from over 40 million traders would enable the government to provide basic amenities in marketplaces across the country.
Moses Ige, MATAN National Coordinator of Incentives, urged market leaders who were present at the event to sensitize members of various market associations to ensure that they are captured for the VAT Direct Initiative (VDI).
He listed the benefits of the VAT Direct Initiative for registered traders to include health insurance, micro-pension, general insurance cover, low-interest and non-collaterized business loans and grants, the provision of social amenities in marketplaces, and free legal services.
Ige said, “All the services, including the health insurance scheme, enjoyed by those in the public sector will also be extended to those in the informal sector. Registered MATAN members will have access to free medical care.
“Registered traders will also enjoy insurance cover in case of any loss as a result of disasters, have access to loans, and enjoy a micro-pension scheme. We are working with the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) to get our members registered for the contributory pension scheme.
“With the VAT Direct Initiative, the government will get more revenue to execute capital projects in markets across the country.
“We are also partnering with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to ensure that every small business owner has access to loans.”
No comments