MultiChoice group said its subsidiaries have reached a settlement with Nigerian tax authorities and agreed to pay a total tax amount of about $37.3 million.
The group in a statement obtained by Reuters on Thursday said the total tax amount of 35.4 billion naira to be paid by MultiChoice Nigeria and MultiChoice Africa Holdings will be offset against the security deposits and good faith payments made to date.
Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) froze MultiChoice Nigeria’s accounts in 2022 and served MultiChoice Group with a N1.8 trillion ($1.27 billion) tax claim for its Nigerian operation and a $342 million claim for value-added taxes.
MultiChoice is an entertainment platform in Africa which offers products and services, including DStv, GOtv, Showmax, M-Net, SuperSport, Irdeto, and KingMakers for over 23.5 million households in 50 markets across sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the company, MultiChoice Nigeria launched in 1993 as a joint venture between MultiChoice Africa and Adewunmi Ogunsanya (SAN).
It also offers content to Nigerians in indigenous languages – Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa.
According to the company, the MultiChoice supply value chain comprises more than 12,000 dealers, retailers, installers, sales agents and Sabimen.
A 2019 Socio-Economic Impact Report from Accenture estimated that from 2016 – 2019 alone, MultiChoice Nigeria contributed N363 billion directly to Nigeria’s GDP, created economic value of N57.1 billion through new businesses.
In addition, the business paid N39.6 billion in taxes and fees and spent N49.5 billion on content and local production facilities with 177,459 hours of content commissioned.