Delta State Hotel Occupancy, Restaurants and Departmental Stores Consumption Tax Law, 2017

DELTA STATE HOTEL OCCUPANCY, RESTAURANTS AND DEPARTMENTAL STORES CONSUMPTION TAX LAW, 2017

1. Short Title and Commencent. This Law may be cited as the Delta State Hotel Occupancy, Restaurants and Departmental Stores Consumption Tax Law, 2017 and shall come into force on the 13th day of June, 2017.

2. Interpretation. In this Law, unless the context otherwise requires: "Board" means Delta State Board of Internal Revenue; "Consume" includes a hotel guest or any person who makes use of a hotel, restaurant, events center or hotel facility for a fee: and any person who purchases consumable goods from Departmental Stores or Supermarkets; "Consultant" means accredited persons or legal entities to be appointed by the Government upon the recommendatoion of the Board as private sector operators to ensure more efficient implementation of this Law; "Entertainment Centres" includes clubs, lounges, amusement parks designated for public use, at a fee; "Electronic Fiscal Device" means the information technology device to be installed or mounted on every taxable facility which would provide daily, monthly and other periodic reports for the smooth and transparent operation of this Law; "Events Centres" includes halls, auditorims, fields and places designated for public use, at a fee; "Government" means the Delta State Government; "Hotel" includes a motel, guest house, apartments for short letting, tavern, whether or not described as a hotel by the operator; "Hotel Facility" includes rooms, suite, conference hall and functional hall, open space or other facility or resource centre which may be let out for a fee within a hotel or other facility covered by this Law under a lease, concession, permit, right of license, contract or other agreement; "Restaurant" includes any food sale outlet, bar, tavern, inn or café whether or not located within a hotel, excluding local eateries popularly known as buka/mama-put; "State" means Delta State of Nigeria; "Transferee" includes purchaser, assignee, lessee, licensee or other successor in title; "Transferor" includes seller, assignor, lessor or other successor in title; "Person" includes a body corporate.

3. Imposition of Tax. (1) A tax is imposed on any person referred to in this Law as the "the Consumer" who (a) Pays for the use or possession or for the right to the use or possession of any hotel, facility or events centre; or (b) Puchases consumable goods or services in any restaurant whether or not located within a hotel in the State; or (c) Purchases consumable goods or services within a Departmental Store or Supermarket within the State. (2) The amount to which this tax applies shall be the total cost of the facilities consumable or personal services supplied to a consumer in, by or on behalf of the hotel, restaurant, departmantal store, supermarket, or events centre.

4. Rate of Tax. The rate of tax imposed by this Law shall be five percent (5%) of the total bill issued to the consumer, excluding Value Added Tax.

5. Collection of Tax. A person owning, managing controlling business or supplying any goods or services chargeable under Section of this Law (referred to in this Law as the "Collecting Agent") shall collect for and on behalf of the State, the tax imposed by this Law based on total amount charged or payable by the consumer in accordance with the provison of Section 4 of the Law.

6. Electronic Fiscal Device. Every Collecting Agent shall register and collect a certified Electronic Fiscal Device or Electronic cash register for recording of payments.

7. Adminisration. The tax charged by this Law shall be under the management of the Board or such other accredited Consultant(s) as shall be apponted by the State for that purpose.

8. Registration. (1) Any Hotel, Restaurant, Departmental Store or other business affected by this Law shall, within 30 days of the commencement of this Law or upon commencement of business whichever is earlier, register with the Board or consultant(s) for the purpose of this Law. (2) Every Collecting Agent shall produce evidence of registration with the Board or consultant as a condition precedent to any contractual relatonship with the State Government or any of its Ministries, Departments, Parastatals or Local Governement Authorities. (3) Upon such registration, the Collecting Agent shallbe given and has installed in its business premises a complete functonal unit of the Electronic Fiscal Device.

9. Periodic Reporting and Remittance. (1) Every Collecting Agent shall: (a) Keep, maintain and preserve in good condition the the Electronic Fiscal Device or Electronic Cash Register and any other such records, books and accounts in respect of all transaction chargeable under section 3 of this Law as the Board may prescribe and shall enter regular accounts of the tax collected from day to day. (b) Subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of the section, pay to the designated account of the State Government, the tax collected during the proceeding reporting period and at the same time, file with the Board a report stating: i. the total amount of payments made for all chargeable transaction during the proceeding reporting period; ii the amount of tax collected by the agent during the reporting period; and iii any other information required by the Board to be included in the report. (2) For the purpose of these provisions, each calender month is a reporting period and the taxes imposed and collected under this Law are due and payable on or before the 20th day of each succeeding calender month. (3) The tax collected shall be a debt due to the state and recoverable by the Board from the supplier of chargeable facilities, goods and services.

10. Access to Book and Record. An officer of the Board or Consultant: may enter without warrant into any premises on which he reasonably believes that a person is carrying on business in order to ascertain whether this Law is being complied with by he occupier of the premises or any other person or other establisgment offering chargeable goods and services for the purpose of verifying facts necessary to determine the amount due and payable to the Government under this Law.

11. Payment of Estimated amount. Where a Collecting Agent fails to make a return or remittance as required by the provisions of this Law or where his returns are not substantiated by records, the Board may make an estimate of the total amount of tax due and may order him in writing to pay the estimated amount to the State Government within 21 days of the date of service of the order.

12. Regulation. The Board may from time to time by order published in the Gazette issue rules and regulatons for the determination, collection and remitance of taxes due and for proper administration of this Law.

13. Interest on Remittance. All taxes that are not remitted to the designated account of the Government within the time allowed, shall in addition to other penalties prescribed by this Law, bear interest at the rate of five percent (5%) per annum or in line with the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria Minimum Redisount Rate as determined at the time of actual remittance.

14. Penalties. If a Collecting Agent fails to file a report and remit taxes (the goods and services tax) collected within the time allowed by section 9(2) of this Law, that Agent shall, in addition to estimated amount payable under section 11 of this Law, pay a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the amount of tax due.

15. Tax Collection on Determination or transfer of Business. (1) When a hotel, restaurant, departmental store or failitie covered by this Law is sold or otherwise disposed of, the transferee shall withhold such amount of the purchase price or other consideration as is sufficent to offset all paymemt already due to the Government under the provison of this Law, unless the transferor has first provided a receipt issued by the Board showing that the amount due at the date of transfer has been paid or that no amount was due. (2) The transferee of chargeable facility who fails to comply with provisions of sub section (1) of this section shall be liable to pay the amount due to the designated government account and the provisions of sections 13 and 14 of this Law shall apply as if he was operating the business at the time the payments was due. (3) The transferee of a chargeable facility shall take over the management, upkeep and maintenance of the Electronic Fiscal device and all record, collections and charges as if he was the original registered Collecting Agent. (4) The transferee of a chargeable facilily may request from the Board, a certificate stating that no tax is due or stating amount of tax due from the facility at the date of transfer. (5) In the case of request made under subsection (4) this section, the Board shall issue the certificate within thirty (30) days of receiving the request or within thirty (30) days after the day on which the relevant record of the business are made available for audit, whichever is later, but in either event, the Board shall issue the certificate within sixty (60) days after the date of request. (6) In the absence of willful concealment or fraud, the period of limitation during which the Board may assess tax against a transferor under this section is four (4) years from the date when the transferor disposed the chargeable facility or when a determination is made against the transferor, whichever event occurs later.

16. Appeal process. (1) Any person aggrieved by any assessment made by the Board under this Law shall within seven (7) days of being notified of such decision write to the Chairman or other designated officer of the Board requesting the Board to review, amend or reverse the assessment. (2) upon the receipt of such notice, as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, the Board may reconsider, affirm or amend its assessment and notify the complainant of its decision. (3) where upon a review, the Board serves on the complainant a notice of refusal to amend, a complainant who is dissatisfied by the refusal may institute an action at the High Court of the State. (4) whereupon a person served with an assessment or his authorized representative fails to contest the assessment within the period allowed by subsection (1) of this Section, assessment shall be deemed to be final and conclusive.

17. Jurisdiction. (1) The Board or Consultant may institute an action at the High Jurisdiction of the State for the recovery of taxes, interest and penalties due under this Law. (2) All revenues recoverable under this Law excluding Collection fees and consultants fees, are revenues of the State Government and accordingly, all legal actions taken in relation to this anything done pursuant to it shall subject to the provision or section 16 of this Law, be instituted at the High Court of the State. (3) Where an ex-parte application is made to the court supported by affidavit that there is reasonable cause for suspecting that a Collecting Agent or any other business organization or person is in contravention of any provision or this Law, the Court may make an order upon such terms as it deems fit to: (a) prevent concealment of the fraud dissipation of monies due to the Government: or (b) authorise officers of the Board or Consultants to enter the premises of the suspect at any reasonable time by day or night accompanied by police officers: i. inspect the penalises for any evidence of contravention: and (ii) seize any books of account, electronic records or other things by which the liability of the Collecting Agent, business organization or other person may be established. (4) Any person who knowingly gives false information shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period of six (6) months or fine or One Million Naira (N1,000,000.00)or both.

18. Power to Distrain For Non-Payment of Tax. (1) Without prejudice to any other powr conferred on the Board or Consultant the enforcement of payments due to Government under this or any other law, where an assessment has become final and conclusive and a demand notice has been served on a person to make payment, if payment is made within the time limit. By the demand notice, the Board or Consultant may, in the prescribed form, for the purpose of enforcing payment of the tax due: (a) distrain the defaulter by his goods other chattel, bonds or other securities; (b) distrain upon the relevant facility or other place in respect of which the defauter is the owner and subject to the provisions of this section, recover the amount of tax due by sale of any of the things so distrained. (2) The authority to distrain under this Section shall be in such for as the Board may direct and that authority shall be sufficent warrant to levy by distrain, the amount of tax due. (3) for the purpose of levying a distrain under this Section, an officer authorized in witing by the Board or Consultant may execute a warrant of disrain, and if necessary break open any building or place in the day time for the purpose of levying the distrain and may call to his assistance any police or other security officer whose duty when so required shall be to aid and assist in the execution of the warrant of distrain and levying the distrain. (4) Things distrained under this Section may, cost of the defaulter, be kept for fourteen (14) days and at the end of that time, if the amount due in respect of the tax and the cost and charge incidental to the distrained are still not paid, may subject to the provisons of the subsection (6) of this Section, be sold at anytime thereafter. (5) Out of the proceeds of a sale under this section, there shall be paid the cost or charges incidenal to the sale and keeping of the distrain, and the amount due in respect of the tax. The balance (if any) shall be payable to defaulter an demand being made by him or on his behalf. (6) Nothing in this Section shall be construed as authorizing the sale of an immovable propery without an order of the State High Court made on application in such form as may be prescribed by the Rules of Court.

19. Exemption from Laws with Similar Effect. As from commencement of this Law, any other Law which levies at form of consumption tax on goods and services in the State shall not apply any facility or transaction registered or covered by this Law.