Amid the ongoing tax reform uproar in Nigeria, the Nigerian government has raked in the sum of N1.78 trillion from Value Added Tax (VAT) in the third quarter of 2024.
This is according to the latest VAT report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in Abuja.
The Q3 VAT figure represents a 14.16% quarter-on-quarter increase compared to the N1.56 trillion collected in Q2 2024 and an 88% year-on-year growth from Q3 2023.
Local VAT payments, Foreign VAT payments and import VAT drove the VAT increase recorded by the Nigerian government.
According to the report, Local VAT Payments account for N922.87 billion, followed by Foreign VAT Payments at N448.85 billion and Import VAT at N410.62 billion.
Human health and social work activities led the pack with the highest growth rate of 250.39% quarter-on-quarter, followed by activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods and services-producing activities for household use, which grew by 102.09%.
Conversely, some sectors recorded significant declines. These include water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities, which fell by 41.92%, the sharpest decline among sectors.
Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies also dropped by 36.14%.
Manufacturing, Information and Communication and Mining and Quarrying activities were the top contributors to the collection at 22.21%, 20.89% and 18.90% respectively.
The Q3 2024 VAT collections showed remarkable progress on a year-on-year basis, recording an 88% increase from Q3 2023.
This shows the government’s efforts to enhance revenue generation through tax administration and compliance.
By: Babajide Okeowo