Facebook, yesterday issued a warning to Nigerian advertisers on its platform to update their Value Added Tax, VAT, records to the site on or before February 25, 2022 or risk not having their adverts displayed on the platform.
The warning apparently followed Federal Government’s resolve to tax foreign-based social media platforms, who earn money from Nigerian advertisers.
It would be recalled that on December 7, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari sent the Finance Bill 2021 to the National Assembly.
One of the major highlights of the bill is the aspect equipping the Federal Inland Revenues Service (FIRS) with the power to evaluate non-resident firms like Twitter, Facebook, Google, and Netflix and tax them on fair and reasonable turnover earned from digital services to Nigerian customers.
In response, Facebook last year announced that all advertisers from Nigeria would pay an additional 7.5 percent VAT on ad placement from January 1, 2022.
The social media platform’s parent company, Meta, in apparent bid to comply with the government regulation also requested its Nigerian customers to carry out basic requirements to help its compliance.
In a statement, Meta charged Nigerian customers to update their VAT identification numbers by February 25.
The company said it made recent updates to allow some Nigerian customers to provide 11 or 12 digit VAT identification (ID) to pay the 7.5 per cent charge.
It also added that those who already have their VAT ID can easily use receipts for other paid taxes.
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