MTN Paid 13.5% of Total FIRS Collection in 2021, Named Most Tax Compliant Company

Pat Stevens/

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc paid a total of N618.7bn in direct and indirect taxes to the FIRS in the 2021 tax year, representing approximately 13.5% of the total FIRS collection for the year.

This was disclosed at the National Tax Dialogue organised by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

The second edition of the stakeholder engagement forum was held at the Banquet Hall, State House Presidential Villa Abuja on Tuesday, with President Muhammadu Buhari as the special guest of honour.

MTN was recognised with two awards at the ceremony, including the most tax compliant organisation and a top 20 taxpayer in Nigeria for the 2021 tax year.

These awards reflect MTN Nigeria’s remarkable performance in remittance of its taxes despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.

In 2021, MTN Nigeria’s total tax contribution to all government agencies including the FIRS amounted to N757.6bn while FIRS collected a total of N6.4trn tax revenue in the year.

“I am delighted at our performance and recognition at this year’s National Tax Dialogue event. While the past 24 months have been challenging for our country and nations worldwide, we are committed to supporting the Federal Government’s ongoing Economic Growth Recovery Plan (EGRP),” said Modupe Kadri, Chief Financial Officer, who received the awards on behalf of MTN Nigeria.

“We will continue to invest heavily in network expansion with a focus on expanding access to under-served communities. We also plan to connect an additional 2,000 rural communities in 2022,” he added.

Chairman of FIRS, Muhammad Nani, thanked the President for his directive to government agencies enabling FIRS to connect to their ICT systems, noting that this singular pronouncement softened the ground for the Service to roll out its system for the seamless acquisition of data.

“We are confident that by the time all the agencies achieve 100 percent compliance with the President’s directive, Nigeria shall be the envy of other countries for tax compliance and domestic tax revenue mobilisation,” he said.