Nigeria has launched a tax probe into international petroleum shipping firms (IPSCs) that did business in Nigeria between 2010 and 2019.
According to INTERTANKO letters are being sent by Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to its members. The letters being sent by FIRS allege that certain named vessels have traded to Nigeria between 2010-2019 and have not filed Companies Income Tax (CIT) returns nor paid taxes to the Nigerian government.
The claims vary depending on the value of the cargo and number of visits by the vessel, but are in the range of USD400,000 to USD1.1m per vessel.
Members of Group Club NorthStandard were warned to be on the lookout for letters from the FIRS, which considers non-payment of requests to be tax evasion and a criminal offense.
As Bloomberg reported, freight for ships hauling about 1 million barrels of crude from Nigeria to Europe jumped almost $16,000 a day on Friday, the biggest gain since April 2022. It rose to just over $64,000 a day, data from the Baltic Exchange show.
INTERTANKO also explains that the common understanding following consultation with club legal advisers in Nigeria, is that there is a 30-day period in which to appeal the demand after which there is a risk of vessels being detained.
Bloomberg also reported that at least two shipowners said they were keeping their vessels away from Nigeria after a series of multimillion dollar tax bills were sent out, seeking to claw back unpaid duties from 2010-2019.