The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), in a letter dated 10 August 2021, addressed to the Association of Bureau De Change, confirmed that Bureau De Change (BDC) operators are not liable to charge Value Added Tax (VAT) on the sale of Foreign Exchange (Forex) with effect from 1, January 2021.

In Nigeria, BDC operators are regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who determines Forex buying and selling rates. However, the income earned by BDC operators have continued to come under pressure due to the statutory commission paid to the CBN and the imposition of VAT by the FIRS, who argues that the income earned by the BDC operators are liable to VAT.   Given this challenge, BDC operators and stakeholders had engaged the government to obtain VAT exemption for their operations.

Please this is open for discussion