Lagos State Goes Tough On Hotels

Lagos State drives more revenue by going tough on hotels
OpenLife Nigeria reports that this is not a friendly time for hotel and hospitality business operators.
Since March 2020 when pandemic broke, the tempo of occupancy ration in hospitality centres went low.
While operators are still struggling to cope with the downward curve in the hospitality diagraph, the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) recently issued a Public Notice to clarify the definitions of “hotels”, “event centres” and “restaurants” in Section 17 of the Hotel Occupancy & Restaurant Consumption (HORC or “Consumption”) Law, 2009 and the compliance obligations of their owners for consumption tax.

The LIRS requires the management of these facilities to charge consumption tax on their bills including invoices and remit the tax to the LIRS on or before the 20th day of each calendar month in the format prescribed in Section 6(1)(b) of the HORC Law, 2009.
Further, the LIRS reiterates its intention to commence enforcement of the sanctions provided in the relevant sections of the HORC Law, 2009 for non-compliance with the consumption tax obligation and filing requirements.

For our previous publication on the legality of consumption tax based on two contradictory judgments of the Federal High Court in the cases of Registered Trustees of Hotel Owners and Managers Association of Lagos (RTHMAL) v. Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Finance and RTHMAL vs Attorney-General of Lagos State and Federal Inland Revenue Service, refer to our newsletter
As the two cases are on appeal, it is hoped that the controversy will be resolved when a higher court makes an authoritative pronouncement on the subject.