VAT collection hits N1.43 trillion, CIT drops to N984.6 billion in Q1

The aggregate Value Added Tax (VAT) collection stood at N1.43 trillion in Q1 2024, according to the VAT Q1 2024 Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday.

The NBS also reports that the nation’s aggregate Company Income Tax (CIT) for Q1 2024 was N984.61 billion, a significant drop from the N1.13 trillion recorded in Q4 2023.

The report showed a VAT growth rate of 19.21 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from N1.20 trillion recorded in Q4 2023. On a a year-on-year basis, it showed that VAT collections in Q1 2024, increased by 101.65 per cent from Q1 2023.

It said that local payments recorded were N663.18 billion, while foreign VAT payments contributed N435.73 billion, while import VAT contributed N332.01 billion in Q1 2024.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the report showed that accommodation and food service activities recorded the highest growth rate at 59.15 per cent, followed by the activities of administration and support at 47.79 per cent.

“On the other hand, activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies had the lowest growth rate at –57.01 per cent, followed by human health and social work activities at –27.73 per cent,” the report said.
In terms of sectoral contributions, the report showed the top three largest shares in Q1 2024 were manufacturing at 26.72 per cent, information and communication at 17.42 per cent and mining and quarrying activities at 15.42 per cent.

It said activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the least share at 0.01 per cent.

Meanwhile, it was a different story for Company Income Tax (CIT), which went down by -12.87 per cent during the reporting period.

The NBS report shows that the N984.61 billion collected as CIT in Q1 2024 is a sharp drop from the N1.13 trillion recorded in Q4 2023, but on a year-on-year basis, CIT collections in Q1 2024 increased by 109.93 per cent from Q1 2023.

The report said local payments received were N386.49 billion, while foreign CIT payments contributed N598.13 billion in Q1 2024.

It said on a quarter-on-quarter basis, activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the highest growth rate with 330.42 per cent.

This was followed by administrative and support service activities with 33.18 per cent.

“On the other hand, activities of manufacturing had the lowest growth rate with –70.24 per cent, followed by electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply with –69.14 per cent,” the NBS said.
In terms of sectoral contributions, the report showed that the top three largest shares in Q1 2024 were mining and quarrying with 20.94 per cent.

“This was followed by financial and insurance activities with 18.73 per cent and information and communication with 12.56 per cent.”

It said, on the other hand, the activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the least share with 0.02 per cent.

“This was followed by water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities with 0.07 per cent and activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies with 0.24 per cent.”

The CIT was greatly impacted by the hyperinflation and volatile forex market which whittled down the value of the naira and increased the cost of goods and services, making it difficult for many businesses to operate at full capacity while others shut down or left the country.