Imo hoteliers comply with HORC tax law

By Dikachi Franklin,  in Owerri

… IIRS chairman happy over compliance

… ISHA wants dissidents prosecuted 

Members of the Imo State Hoteliers  Association (ISHA) have begun to comply with the Hotel Occupancy  and Restaurant Consumption (HORC)  tax law,  investigations by business a.m. has revealed.

This law has therefore,  raised by five percent, prices of  goods and perhaps  some services  rendered by hotels, event  centres and restaurants  in the state.

In this law also,  daily records of tax shall be kept  and remitted by the company,  partnership  or individual to the state’s designated revenue account on or before the 20th day of the month next following  the month for which the tax is due.

Some  of the taxable items include beer, wine, liquor and spirits, cigarettes, tobacco,  jewels and jewelries, perfumes cosmetics etc.

Nze Charles  Onwunali,  the chairman of the Imo State Internal Revenue Service (IIRS), has  commended the Imo State Hoteliers Association for complying with the tax law,  saying,  also that most hotels,  bars,  restaurants,  event centers have started  implementing the steps towards compliance.

Onwunali  informed that he took his time to visit some  of them,  during the Christmas and New Year seasons to monitor the extent of compliance  with the tax law and was happy with the level of their readiness toward full compliance.

The bill for the law was drafted  towards the end of the Imo House  of Assembly when  Rochas Okorocha was   the governor  of the state but was signed  into law on December,  2019 by the immediate past governor, Emeka Ihedioha.

Onwunali said that all filing of returns should be on or before January 20, 2020 and that failure attract sanctions.  He went further to add that failure to remit the tax collected within the stipulated time would attract five percent interest  in addition to  the prevailng  Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) minimum discount rate while the penalty  for non remittance of  the tax collected within the said time attracts sever sanctions.

He said any director, manager, agent,  employee of the collecting agent who fails to comply with the provisions of the law would be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a penalty of six months imprisonment or a fine of N2 million or both.

Meanwhile, Chima Chukwunyere, the chairman of the Imo State Hoteliers Association, has  said  “you will agree with me that in one of the interviews I granted to this paper,  I said that the hotel industry will be willing to work  with the government  that we will support, we will do everything that will be required of us to assist the governor to succeed”.

Chukwunyere expressed his happiness  that his members have complied with the law and  “that is to tell you how responsible we are and that tells you the kind of leadership we have in the Imo hotel industrial sector”. Adding that apart from the state government the hotel industry is the biggest employer of labour.

Hear him “ but if there is any hotel that has refused to comply, the law will take its course because I believe  that what Nze Onwunali and his people will do is to go after those  people  that have refused to pay the tax, that is clear sabortage.

“You want to enjoy certain amenities in the State,  you want to enjoy certain infrastructures,  you are already enjoying good roads, you can see that there is a lot of improvement on the roads and you do not want to pay the tax.

“I have also  reminded our members that anybody who has not paid should go and do so.  And I clearly stated the Association will not support,  will not rescue, will not  assist any body in any way, we will not engage in any battle because you have refused to pay”.

He how ever, said “those who have not paid are not part of the Association and the IIRS should discipline defaulters  because they are rebellious “.