Nigeria is getting ready for its first increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) rate since 1993. The Minister for Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma and the Chairman of FIRS, Babatunde Fowler announced this on 19 March 2019. By increasing the VAT rate with 50%, the government intends to fund the recent minimum wage…
Food. Clothing. Shelter (Housing). These are three basic needs of human beings. Housing is one of the key parameters for measuring the standard of living as well as the social status of a person. Housing is a product and a process. As a product, housing refers to the output of the construction work. In contrast, housing, as a…
New companies in Nigeria are expected to file their first set of tax returns in line with the commencement rule. However, the Finance Act (2019) has changed the tax narrative. New companies, with effect from 13 January 2020, can now file their corporate tax returns on a preceding year basis. At this point, you must…
February 2019 was a much-awaited month for the Presidential elections in Nigeria. Apparently, the election period came with its attendant low pace in economic activities. Yet, the tempo of generating more tax revenue did not drop! The tax authority rolled-out three (3) initiatives to recover outstanding taxes from businesses. Here are five major events that shaped…
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has started issuing Notice of Refusal to Amend (“NORA” or “the notice”) to companies with open tax audit exercises. Companies affected by the notice include; taxpayers that have previously objected to FIRS demand notice and taxpayers that have resolved some queries during tax reconciliation meetings. FIRS expects these companies…
Businesses engaged in cross-border transactions must address the impact of their operations in another country. One of the vital issues is international tax, including double taxation and transfer pricing adjustment. This could lead to a tax dispute between a taxpayer and the tax authority in the home country and foreign country. The tax risk of…
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has started to enforce compliance with the Income Tax (Country-by-Country Reporting) Regulations (2018) in Nigeria. Under the Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) Regulations, multinational enterprises (MNEs) should provide the total details of income, tax paid, and economic activity in tax jurisdictions where the MNE conducts business. MNEs are also required to…
The Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS) has postponed the freezing of bank accounts of taxpayers who are yet to pay tax. In its letter issued to banks and dated 15 February 2019, FIRS agreed that the suspension was important due to administrative reasons. However, the suspension lasts for 30 days with immediate effect. Earlier, FIRS…
Six months ago, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) appointed banks as agents of defaulting taxpayers an annual bank turnover of NGN1 billion. The goal was to freeze the bank account balances and distrain properties of tax debtors. Now, FIRS intends to recover tax debts from 40,000 businesses with the help of banks and the…
The year 2019 started on a good note. In Nigeria, tax attracted lots of predictions on aggressive revenue drive after the elections in February. BRC kept tabs on five (5) major tax topics in January 2019. Here goes….. The Federal Government of Nigeria rolled out Executive Order 007, Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax…