Publication: Stamp Taxes: Obligations to Pay Sanctions for Non-Payment
Publication: Stamp Taxes: Obligations to Pay Sanctions for Non-Payment
There has been a lingering controversy among observers as to the extent, if any, to which failure to stamp, and, by implication, failure to pay stamp duties on dutiable instruments amount to crimes in Nigeria. Although several statutes relating to the payment of income tax expressly criminalize non-compliance, no applicable enactment expressly renders criminal the failure to pay stamp duties on dutiable instruments.
In this Article, Eberechukwu Benjamin-Akaogu and Utonwa Onwumelu argue that failure to stamp a dutiable instrument or pay the applicable duty is not in itself a criminal offence. Since the Stamp Duties Act itself expressly criminalizes certain acts of non-compliance with its provisions in select circumstances, without necessarily or expressly including failure to pay stamp duties in that category, no contrary conclusion can be defended convincingly.
In this Article, Eberechukwu Benjamin-Akaogu and Utonwa Onwumelu argue that failure to stamp a dutiable instrument or pay the applicable duty is not in itself a criminal offence. Since the Stamp Duties Act itself expressly criminalizes certain acts of non-compliance with its provisions in select circumstances, without necessarily or expressly including failure to pay stamp duties in that category, no contrary conclusion can be defended convincingly.
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