01 August 2022

The Nigerian government is considering imposing a 5% excise duty on telecommunications services provided in the country, including calls, SMS and data services.

Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria's minister of finance and national planning, made the disclosure at a stakeholder forum organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) in Abuja in late July.

The new tax will be collected from cell phone subscribers and remitted to Nigerian Customs and payments will be made on a monthly basis, no later than the 21st of each month, according to reports.

The new tax is provided for in the 2020 Finance Act. 

For subscribers, the new 5% tax will be added to the 7.5% value-added tax (VAT) paid to the federal government. This will make a total of 12.5%.