The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has published the Finance Act, 2019, in the Official Gazette. FGN amended the provisions of seven tax laws in a single Act. While President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Finance Act into law on 13 January 2020, the Minister of Finance earlier announced that the Act would be effective 1…
Recently, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) issued a public notice on the filing of tax returns based on segment. Before a taxpayer can pay tax in Nigeria, the company or individual must register for taxes with the relevant tax authority. There are two types of tax authorities in Nigeria. First, FIRS administers taxes payable to the…
Paying taxes is one of the four parameters that need major reform in the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria. A taxpayer in Nigeria needs 347.4 hours to complete the tax compliance cycle which makes the country ranks as 159th out of 190 economies. Research also shows that a higher amount of government control in…
According to the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) Cap P8 LFN 2011 (as amended), every employer shall file employer tax returns (Form H1) with the relevant tax authority by 31 January. The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has issued a public notice directing employers to file their annual returns for the 2020 year of…
Nigeria had over 100 tax news in 2019, and in those, we covered a whole lot. Tax disputes, amendment bills, new legislation, public notices, circulars, the lien on bank accounts, tax treaty, transfer pricing, doing business in Nigeria — the list continues. We’ve rounded up our top 10 tax blog posts for the year 2019….
Nigeria has a tax treaty or double taxation agreement (DTA) with 16 countries. A tax treaty is a bilateral agreement between two countries that helps to settle issues on double taxation. Four (4) legislation on income tax already contains rules on double taxation relief. They are Sections 45 and 46 of the Companies Income Tax…
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has issued a Public Notice dated 17 December 2019 on a nationwide tax enforcement exercise to collect all outstanding taxes from tax defaulters. According to the notice, the recovery exercise will start on 24 December 2019. Taxpayers include individuals, partnerships, enterprises, companies, organizations, ministries, departments and agencies with outstanding…
President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Muhammad M. Nami, as the new Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). FIRS is responsible for assessing, collecting and accounting for tax and other revenue accruing to the Federal Government of Nigeria. According to the FIRS Establishment Act 2007, the President shall appoint the executive chairman subject…
Some provisions in the Nigerian tax laws are outdated and ambiguous. Over the years, Nigerian lawmakers made attempts to amend gray areas in the tax laws but with little impact. One new legislation that will reform the Nigerian tax space is the Finance Bill 2019. The bill seeks to amend seven (7) tax laws in…
On 4 November 2019, the Nigerian President assented to the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (Amendment) Bill 2019. The amended bill reviews the regulation of deep offshore oil fields in Nigeria. Four (4) proposed changes to the Principal Act First (Amendment of Section 5): Substitution of production-based royalty system with a dual…