The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has kicked against the ongoing suspension of bureau de change (BDC) accounts by banks and demand for tax remittances on turnover volumes.
ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said banks are acting under the directive of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to demand that BDCs pay taxes on funds used to bid for their dollar allocations sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on weekly basis through the commercial banks.
The ABCON boss said many banks have written BDC operators and are implementing a ‘Post No Debit’ order on the operators’ accounts even where there is no evidence of tax default.
“An average BDC does over N30 million weekly turnover and paying taxes on such funds will affect their cash flow and ability to meet their statutory role of foreign exchange supply to the retail-end of the market,” he said.
He said many of the affected BDC operators are already facing major funding challenges that need to be addressed immediately by concerned stakeholders.
He said ABCON will continue to implement zero tolerance for non-compliance with regulatory requirement and unethical conduct amongst its members but will not sit idly and watch the businesses built by its members destroyed by illegal policy like the ‘Post No Debit’ order.
