E-mobility company Bolt has lodged an appeal at the Lagos Court of Appeal to overturn a High Court judgment permitting the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to impose a 5% VAT on transport and food delivery services connected with its platform.
Bolt contests the Lagos High Court’s June 24, 2025 decision that upheld FIRS’s authority to designate Bolt as a VAT collection agent under the VAT Act. The ride-hailing firm argues that the ruling misinterprets tax law and unfairly burdens independent contractors using its digital platform.
Represented by attorney Elvis Asia, Bolt asserts that applying the tax to service providers earning below the N25 million threshold is a flawed approach. Asia emphasized that the court erred in broadly applying Section 10(3) of the VAT Act, which originally targets non-resident suppliers, to domestic transactions involving Nigerian drivers and food vendors who act autonomously and are not Bolt employees.
Bolt claims it does not maintain a physical presence in Nigeria and should not be seen as the direct supplier of transportation or meal services. The company further challenges the usage of the 2021 Simplified Compliance Guidelines for Non-Resident Suppliers in this context, calling their application to local transactions inappropriate.
The Lagos High Court’s initial ruling had aligned with the earlier decision by the Tax Appeal Tribunal, which authorized FIRS to collect VAT from ride-hailing and food marketplace providers operating through digital platforms like Bolt. Justice Akintayo Aluko affirmed that the tax agency acted within the bounds of the law by electing Bolt as an agent to withhold and remit VAT payments.
Bolt’s legal team also disputes the N1 million penalty imposed by the court, arguing that the entire matter should be reexamined given the misinterpretations surrounding the relevant tax provisions.
This lawsuit is another phase in the firm’s contest with the tax authorities, a struggle that began in 2022 when Bolt first challenged FIRS’s mandate to collect value-added tax on its services. At that time, the Tax Appeal Tribunal dismissed Bolt’s suit, a verdict that Bolt then took to the federal high court.
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