March 25, (THEWILL)- The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has filed criminal tax-related charges against cryptocurrency firm Binance.
THEWILL reports that the FIRS is empowered by law to assess, collect and account for federal revenue, including administering relevant tax laws.
A statement by FIRS on Monday indicated that the lawsuit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, accused Binance of facilitating customer tax evasion.
Numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, the charges include non-payment of Value Added Tax (VAT); failure to file tax returns; non-payment of Company Income Tax (CIT), Nevasion and “aiding customer tax evasion.”
While the Government alleged that Binance’s operations violated established tax regulations in Nigeria, it claimed that the cryptocurrency platform did not register with the FIRS as required.
“The Federal Government also accused Binance of failure to register with FIRS for tax purposes and contravening existing tax regulations within the country.
“One of the counts in the lawsuit pertains to Binance’s alleged failure to collect and remit various categories of taxes to the federation as stipulated by Section 40 of the FIRS Establishment Act 2007 as amended.
“Section 40 of the Act explicitly addresses the non-deduction and non-remittance of taxes, prescribing penalties and potential imprisonment for defaulting entities”, the statement added.
The lawsuit named Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, senior Binance executives in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as the second and third defendants.