By Mabinty M. Kamara
Sierra Leone’s National Revenue Authority (NRA) is set to implement the law on taxation of digital services including Nigeria’s DSTV as legislated in the 2022 Finance Act according to Dr Philip Michael Kargbo, Director of Monitoring, Research and Planning NRA.
Speaking at a training organized by Budget Advocacy Network (BAN) on Public Financial Management for journalists, Kargbo said in as much as the law has been legislated, the implementation has been a challenge due to lack of the required capacity and data.
However, he said the IMF has trained staff of the revenue generating institution on how to Audit digital service providers like the Telecoms and online betting companies and that a contract has already been signed between the government and Ensoft, to help them generate real time data on digital service providers in Sierra Leone to enable their work in that regard.
“To get those data has always been a challenge and we will also learn from other countries that have been implementing that particular tax. We will also engage internet service providers like Zoodlabs to see how we can track service providers that are using the internet so that they can pay their fair share of tax,” he said.
Explaining digital services, Kargbo said “digital services are things we cannot see physically but for which transactions are made. For instance, when you download anything from the internet, you pay for it but how do we get those to whom those payments are made to pay tax to the government? Like for the satellite TVs and Netflix, the Nigeria DSTV, it requires special IT skills”.
He added that Sierra Leone is now a part of the global forum which deals with exchange of information globally which makes it easier to gather information needed on the companies.
He added that the authority cannot quantify what the government is currently losing in terms of revenue for the digital services operating in the country without being taxed. But he was optimistic that the country will gain a projected amount of 0.2% of the GDP.
This, he said, will not add any financial burden on the people, saying that all they are working towards is to get the right people to pay their correct taxes to the government, saying that the current policy of the government is to tax the affluent and support the poor.
Kargbo therefore urged the public to support the NRA and by extension the government as they implement policies to ensure that people pay the right taxes to the government so that they are able to provide the necessary services for the people.
The training held at Newton in the Western Area Rural district from 19th to 20th May this year brought together journalists from print and broadcast to interface with key actors in the Public Financial Management sector.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (22/05/23)
