Nigeria Tax Highlights for September 2019

Welcome to BRC’s monthly series on Tax Highlights in Nigeria. September 2019 was a busy month in the tax space in Nigeria. Here are five (5) major events that shaped the Nigeria tax space in September 2019. 
  1. Businesses in Nigeria will be required to pay a levy of 0.005% of net profits as Nigeria Police Trust Fund levy. More details here.
  2. The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has automated the process for registering technology transfer agreements. NOTAP is the official body responsible for registering all contracts or agreements for the transfer of foreign technology to Nigerian parties. More details here.
  3. Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has issued guidelines on the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts. More details on the Income Tax (Common Reporting Standard) Regulations 2019 is available here.
  4. Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) launched an enterprise tax administration system (e-Tax).  Taxpayers in Lagos State will be able to access and manage their tax affairs from a remote location. More details here.
  5. Federal Government of Nigeria has finalized plans to increase the value added tax (VAT) rate from 5% to 7.5%. Earlier in 2019, FIRS communicated the proposed increase. More details here.
Overall, the most controversial topics were the new police fund levy and the proposed increase in the VAT rate to 7.5% which will soon be approved.