FG Generates N631.09bn Tax From ICT Sector, Says NBS Report

A new report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that consumers and firms operating in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) space paid N631.09bn as tax in 2022.

This ranked IT as one of the biggest contributors to Value Added Tax and Company Income Tax in 2022.

Telecom consumers and other IT services consumers paid N268.84bn as consumption taxes for services like calls, SMS, data, and more, during the period under review.

Telecom companies and other IT companies paid N362.26bn as CIT. The government raked in a total of N5.34tn from CIT and VAT, of which the IT sector contributed 11.82 per cent.

According to the NBS, the IT sector is one of the major contributors to VAT and CIT.

It explained that the information and communication sector is composed of the activities of telecommunications and information services; publishing; motion picture, sound recording and music production and broadcasting.

In 2022, the telecoms sector contributed 82.17 per cent to the IT sector.

The NBS said, “In terms of sectoral contributions, the top three largest shares in Q4 2022 were manufacturing with 32.17 per cent; information and communication with 18.05 per cent and public administration and defence, compulsory social security with 9.87 per cent.”

For CIT, it stated, “In terms of sectoral contributions, the top three largest shares in Q4 2022 were manufacturing with 31.20 per cent; financial and insurance activities with 12.96 per cent, and Information and communication activities with 12.77 per cent.”

The growth of the digital economy led by the telecom subsector has spilled into increased revenue for the government.

In 2022, the sector contributed N12.32tn to real GDP and the total number of telecom subscriptions hit 222.23 million.