On July 15, Douglas Kendyson, the founder and chief executive of creator economy startup Selar, accused the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) of “hounding” his company over a backdated 5% royalty fee on all sales processed through the platform.
In an emailed statement to TechCabal, LIRS said its position rests on how those transactions are structured: when someone buys an ebook or a course on Selar, they are paying to access a creator’s copyrighted work.
Payment “may constitute consideration for the use of, or the right to use, the creator’s intellectual property,” the agency said in the statement signed by Monsurat Amasa-Oyelude, its head of corporate communications.
LIRS is testing whether payments for digital content are royalties rather than sales, a distinction that could require creator platforms to withhold 5% before paying creators.
Originally published by TechCabal.