Armanik-Edu Blog Welcomes You: OAU owes Osun N384m tax, not N1.8bn

Sunday, May 06, 2018

OAU owes Osun N384m tax, not N1.8bn —Varsity

FEMI MAKINDE

The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, has described the claim of the Osun State Internal Revenue Service that the university owes N1.84bn tax as a lie.

The revenue agency had, on Wednesday, stormed the university and sealed the main gate, the Senate building and the secretariat.

But the Public Relations Officer of the university, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, in a statement on Friday, said the institution owed N384m and not the alleged N1.8bn.

The OAU management also denied the claim that the backlog of debt was as a result of non-remittance of deducted taxes, noting that the money owed the state government came from under-deduction of PAYE (pay-as-you-earn tax) from university workers’ salaries.

The statement read, “In particular, the university authorities note the claim that the university owed N1.84bn of back-duty tax and has refused to negotiate with the government as false, malicious and total misrepresentation of the truth on this matter.

“The past tax liability, which represented the sum by which the IRS claimed that the university under-deducted from staff salaries for the period 2015 and 2016 for PAYE, has been a subject of negotiation between the university and the state IRS.

“The university administration vehemently disputed the figure of N1.844bn submitted by the IRS and insisted that if there had been under-deduction at all, only the sum of N287m was the amount by which PAYE was under-deducted from staff salaries.

“The Accountant General of the Federation, after examining the claim of the Osun IRS and that of the University, by a letter reference number INV/0089/844/II dated January 19, 2018, returned the verdict that the university’s outstanding tax liabilities was a sum of N384m only being tersity (sic) authorities under-deducted PAYE from its staff salaries.

“Parties agreed to this conclusion, and the recommendation that this sum could be paid at the monthly instalment of N5m. It is therefore with total shock that the university community woke up on May 2, 2018, to find the university main gate as well the university secretariat sealed up by the Osun State Government.”