Independent Marketers Object To VAT Charges On Outstanding Petrol Tickets

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN),  Suleja Branch, has objected the inclusion of Value Added Tax (VAT) on the outstanding tickets its members paid for the purchase of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) after the removal of fuel subsidy.

Chairman of the branch, Yahaya Alhassan raised the objection in a press statement

issued to reporters in Abuja at the weekend.

The chairman expressed surprise that the federal government didn’t seem to understand that the affected tickets were not new payments made for purchase of petrol after the phasing out of subsidy.

The association has been asking the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to release the outstanding fuel they paid for before the removal of subsidy.

However, the company resolved to sell petrol for the outstanding tickets to the marketers  at the new rate.

Besides, NNPCL gave the marketers the option of requesting for the refund of their exact outstanding tickets or loading the product at the new rate.

Yahaya said IPMAN was, however, further taken aback when it realised VAT has been included in the outstanding tickets as if it they were fresh transactions.

Yahaya said, “For the outstanding tickets, up till now they have not attended to us. What they (NNPCL) are even saying now is that they (marketers) should add VAT for the ticket.

“This was the money we paid before subsidy was removed. We got this information after Salah, which is this week.”

The recourse marketers have is to write to explain to President Bola Tinubu to help them out of the confusion, which has held down their business.

He said, “We have to explain to the President that is the only way we can solve that problem.”

IPMAN noted that the Federal Government seems to be mistaking the outstanding bridging claims that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has been owing for tickets NNPCL is owing marketers for old petrol tickets.

When there was subsidy, the government, through the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF), was paying the marketers the transportation component in the PMS pricing template.

That payment being the bridging cost for transporting the fuel to attain a uniform pump price nationwide, automatically ceased to exist with the removal of subsidy.

The Suleja IPMAN chairman said, “I want the Federal Government to know that bridging claim is different from subsidy. We are supporting the removal of subsidy. IPMAN members are not among those who benefited from subsidy.

“The bridging claim is our own money. Any money that any marketers pays, the transport money is there, which we are contributing.

They have added VAT to the new rates going to NNPCL price for fuel.”