Court Upholds FIRS’ Right to Collect VAT from Bolt’s Ride-Hailing and Food Services

• A Lagos Federal High Court upheld FIRS’ authority to collect VAT on services by Bolt drivers and food vendors.
• The court affirmed a previous Tax Appeal Tribunal ruling supporting FIRS as VAT collection agents for Bolt services.
• Bolt’s legal team argued against FIRS’ guidelines, claiming the platform is not a direct service provider.
• The court dismissed a lawsuit by ARCON against Meta Platforms and its media agency.
• The presiding judge ruled in favor of FIRS, stating the tax body acted within the law.
• The court imposed a fine of N1 million on Bolt for filing the appeal.
• FIRS introduced a 5% VAT on online transactions in 2019, affecting tech companies and platforms like Bolt.
• The VAT policy applies to businesses operating in Nigeria, regardless of prior VAT in the originating country.

Source: technext24.com

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

---

---