MultiChoice Denies Tax Evasion Accusation

Multichoice, South African digital television has denied the accusation from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) that it dodged tax and had an outstanding of N1.8 trillion.

In a statement on Thursday, the company said it has complied with Nigerian tax laws and will prove that to the FIRS.

FIRS on Thursday announced it has engaged commercial banks to freeze and recover the amount from the bank accounts of MultiChoice Nigeria Limited and MultiChoice Africa.

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The Executive Chairman of FIRS, Muhammad Nami, said Multichoice and its unit in Nigeria consistently failed to promptly respond to correspondences, lack data integrity and continually deny FIRS access to their records.

“Particularly, MCN has avoided giving the FIRS accurate information on the number of its subscribers and income,” he said.

“The companies are involved in the under-remittance of taxes which necessitated a critical review of the tax-compliance level of the company.

”It is important that Nigeria puts a stop to all tax frauds that had been going on for too long and all companies must be held accountable and made to pay their fair share of relevant taxes including back duty taxes owed especially VAT,” he said.

In a short statement on Thursday, Bamidele Johnson, a representative of Multichoice, said the company had complied with the tax laws of Nigeria, and that it had not received any notification from the tax office.

“We have read the media reports and the statements made by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS),” the statement said.