Written by Gordi Udeajah, Umuahia
BLACKOUT looms in parts of Abia State following the ceasation of electricity supply from the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), which was closed down on the orders of the Abia State High Court, presided over by Mr. Justice Ken Wosu, over the company’s failure to remit its workers’ N417, 066, 787.64 million tax deductions to the state government through the state’s Board of Internal Revenue (BIR).
The EEDC had acquired the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), whose management was supposed to have remitted its workers’ tax deductions to the state government.
The Company’s business Premises at Umuahia and Aba were sealed early Thursday morning.The Court ruled that the said company’s business units at Umuahia and Aba were duly served with the demand notices for the remittance of the sums due each of them to the Abia State Revenue Service.
Chairman of the state Board of Inland Revenue, Mr. Udochukwu Ogbonna, told The Guardian after sealing the former PHCN buildings that the electricity company had applied for stay of Execution of the Court Order, but that the Court, after considering the application, rejected it and ordered execution.
Ogbonna referred to the provision of the law stating that employers of more than five persons should register with the state’s revenue board and collect employees’ Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes and promptly remit them to the government.
He said that his Board does not decide the sealing of defaulters premises except on the order of the court after the board would have prosecuted them (the defaulters).
So far, not less than10 defaulters’ premises have been sealed on the orders of the court in the state.
According to Ogbonna, resort to prosecution has helped to enforce remittance of the PAYE taxes, stressing that, to unseal the premises, defaulters should pay the due Tax owed or make a commitment acceptable to government.
However, announcements made over the state Radio and credited to the EEDC yesterday said the power ceasation/blackout was caused by the inability of the company’s workers to gain entry into the premises.
The EEDC statement claimed that the company inherited the debt from the former PHCN and that it (EEDC) only distributed electricity/power released to it by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, implying that the blackout would continue until the workers regain access to their sealed offices.
Culled from http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/business
The EEDC had acquired the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), whose management was supposed to have remitted its workers’ tax deductions to the state government.
The Company’s business Premises at Umuahia and Aba were sealed early Thursday morning.The Court ruled that the said company’s business units at Umuahia and Aba were duly served with the demand notices for the remittance of the sums due each of them to the Abia State Revenue Service.
Chairman of the state Board of Inland Revenue, Mr. Udochukwu Ogbonna, told The Guardian after sealing the former PHCN buildings that the electricity company had applied for stay of Execution of the Court Order, but that the Court, after considering the application, rejected it and ordered execution.
Ogbonna referred to the provision of the law stating that employers of more than five persons should register with the state’s revenue board and collect employees’ Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes and promptly remit them to the government.
He said that his Board does not decide the sealing of defaulters premises except on the order of the court after the board would have prosecuted them (the defaulters).
So far, not less than10 defaulters’ premises have been sealed on the orders of the court in the state.
According to Ogbonna, resort to prosecution has helped to enforce remittance of the PAYE taxes, stressing that, to unseal the premises, defaulters should pay the due Tax owed or make a commitment acceptable to government.
However, announcements made over the state Radio and credited to the EEDC yesterday said the power ceasation/blackout was caused by the inability of the company’s workers to gain entry into the premises.
The EEDC statement claimed that the company inherited the debt from the former PHCN and that it (EEDC) only distributed electricity/power released to it by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, implying that the blackout would continue until the workers regain access to their sealed offices.
Culled from http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/business
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