Nigeria Tax Highlights for October 2019

Welcome to BRC‘s monthly series on Tax Highlights in Nigeria.  It is the last quarter of the year. On October 1st, the nation celebrated 59 years of independence. Back to tax matters, here are five (5) major events that shaped the Nigeria tax space in October 2019. 

1. Senate passes the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (Amendment) Bill 2019. It covers oil and gas companies operating under a production sharing contract. More details on the proposed bill here.
2. The Federal Government plans to introduce new excise duty on carbonated drinks. More details on the new excise duty here.
3. The Federal Inland Revenue Service creates a dedicated tax office for non-resident persons. Location is Lagos State, Nigeria. More details on the new tax office here.
4. President Buhari presents the 2020 Budget Proposal to the Senate. More details here.
5. Nigeria rises by 15 points in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 Report. Also, the country ranks as the top ten most improved economies. Among the 10 parameters, Nigeria introduced the highest rate of reforms in the area of dealing with construction permits (14.6%) and trading across borders (6.1%).

Overall, the proposed 2020 Budget had the highest debate from the public.