Breaking: Nigerians to start paying tax for using Facebook from January

Nigerians will start paying value added tax (VAT) for using Facebook, beginning from 1st of January 2022.

The tax is directly to Nigerians who use the platform as a means to market or sell their products.

Already, Facebook has started informing users on the platform of the development via email.

With the development, Nigerians will now pay a VAT at the applicable rate of 7.5 percent.

The email to Facebook users seen by TNG reads: “Due to implementation of a value-added tax (VAT) in Nigeria, Facebook is required to charge VAT on the sale of ads to advertisers, regardless of whether you’re buying ads for business or personal purposes.

“All advertisers with a business country of Nigeria will be charged an additional 7.5% VAT on advertising services purchased beginning 1 January 2022.

If you’re registered for VAT and provide your VAT ID, your VAT ID will show up on your ads receipts. In the event that you’re entitled to recover VAT, this may help you recover any VAT you paid to the Nigerian tax authorities if you are a VAT registered business in Nigeria”.

TNG reports the new tax regime is in pursuant of the Companies Income Tax (Significant Economic Presence) Order, introduced in 2020 as an amendment of the Finance Act 2019.

The document imposes tax on any “foreign entity with respect to certain services or digital transactions tax foreign digital service providers offering services to Nigerians and earning revenue in naira.

Meanwhile, the federal government has in recent times gone hard on social media platforms, especially Twitter.

The Nigerian government slammed an indefinite suspension on the operations of the microblogging platform in the country, citing activities capable of undermining the nation’s corporate existence.

And till date the suspension is yet to be lifted. TheNewsGuru