THE Market Traders Association of Nigeria (MATAN) is partnering with the Bank Of Industry (BOI) for loans and other empowerment facilities for its members.
According to Ige,“we are also partnering with Bank of Industry (BOI) to ensure that every small business owners have access to loans and other empowerment facilities.
This was made known by the MATAN National Coordinator of Incentives, Moses Ige during the unveiling of the Federal Inland Revenue Service’s (FIRS) Integrated Market Revenue Management System (IMRMS), a purpose-built digital platform, to capture the informal sector, especially market traders in the federal government’s tax net.
Under the arrangement, MATAN is expected to digitally enumerate its members, give them a digital identity, and track their turnover so that VAT accrued is collected and remitted to the FIRS.
Through this initiative, the FIRS will help tackle multiple taxations in the marketplace through partnership with security agencies to curb the activities of touts, miscreants, and self-imposed tax collectors involved in illegal tax collection in Nigeria’s market spaces.
Ige then highlighted the importance of the FIRS partnership with MATAN, the umbrella body for all trading associations in Nigeria, to collect and remit Value Added Tax (VAT) from traders in the marketplace, using the IMRMS platform.
He further urged market leaders who were present at the event, to sensitise members of various market associations to ensure that they are captured for the VAT Direct Initiative (VDI).
He listed the benefits of VAT Direct Initiative for registered traders to include health insurance, micro pension, general insurance cover, low-interest and non-collaterised business loans and grants, provision of provision of social amenities in marketplaces and free legal services.
Ige said, “All the services, including health insurance scheme, enjoyed by those in the public sector will also be extended to those in the informal sector. Registered MATAN members will have access to free medical care.
“Registered traders will also enjoy insurance cover in case of any loss as a result of disasters, have access to loans, and enjoy micro-pension scheme.
We are working with the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) to get our members registered for the contributory pension scheme.
Speaking earlier, Mr Adebayo Adefeogbe, a director in the FIRS, said the initiative would grant the government coordinated access to almost 70 per cent untax revenue in the informal sector.
He said collecting VAT from over 40 million traders would enable the government to provide basic amenities in marketplaces across the country.
MATAN is the largest player in Nigeria’s market space with a membership of well over 40 million traders across the country.