Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice has announced that the federal government will be assisting states in recovering the backlog of stamp duty from 15th January, 2016 to 29th June, 2020.
Malami made the announcement while speaking in a virtual meeting with states’ Attorney-Generals, the Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue (FIR) and members of the Joint Task Board.
The Minister of Justice said the stamp duty recovery will help generate more revenue for the country.
While appealing for the support and cooperation of the states’ Attorney Generals and the Joint Tax Board on the proposed audit and recovery, Malami stressed the importance of Paragraph 7, Item B of Part II of the Second Schedule to the Constitution and Section 4(2) of Stamp Duty Act, which empowers State Governments to collect stamp duties in respect of transactions between individuals residing in their respective States.
A statement released by Malami’s media aide, Umar Gwandu read;
“It may be recalled that Federal Government has set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Audit and Recovery of backlogs of stamp duties.
“The committee, chaired by the Office Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; Abubakar Malami, SAN was inaugurated by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha on June 30, 2020.
“Membership of the committee was drawn from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Inland Revenue Serves.
“The Stamp Duties was originally captured in the Stamp Duties Act 1939 (Ordinance 41 of the 1939) and amended by numerous Acts and various resolutions and contained in the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
“Recently, the Finance Act 2019 amendment to the Stamp Duties Act, particularly Section 52-56 clearly defined the responsibilities for the administration of Stamp Duties in Nigeria and jurisdiction of participating taxing authorizes, as well as explained that the Federal Inland Revenue is the competent tax authority to administer, assess, collect, and account for stamp duty in the country.”
