Multiple Taxation: FG To Prune Down Number Of Taxes Payable In Nigeria To Nine

The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue, Zacch Adedeji, on Wednesday, said President Bola Tinubu has ordered the pruning down of payable taxes in the country to nine.

Adedeji disclosed the directive when the Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria, Adebayo Alli, and his team visited the revenue office in Abuja.

According to the Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, Dare Adekanmbi, the new development aims to create a conducive environment for businesses to flourish and grow the economy.

“The president gave a directive that he wants a single-digit tax in the country, meaning that the maximum number of taxes we will have after the work of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms will be nine taxes.

“For us at FIRS, we have responded to that directive. We want to grow the pie such that even if we are taking the same percentage of the bigger pie, the result will be huge.

“By God’s grace, we will not introduce additional taxes nor increase any form of taxes. We are only determined to increase the pie”, Adedeji said.

Speaking further the FIRS boss said, “We have improved the way we relate with our customers by rearranging our operations based on our customers, using their turnover as the basis to categorise them into large, medium and small.

“We did this to develop expertise in what we do. If you are in a large tax group, you only need to go to one office to pay all forms of taxes, including audits and other activities”.

He added that President Tinubu, through the consumer credit scheme recently introduced, would increase the purchasing power of Nigerians.

This, he added would boost the productive capacity of companies and stimulate growth.

“In a couple of days, the consumer credit scheme will be launched and what that will do is to set the right fundamentals most especially for the kind of products you sell.

“More so, the president has also directed the commencement of a single window platform for your logistics at the ports. So, instead of having to pay in many places, you can now do that through the platform, most especially for companies like yours.

“Another bold decision the president has also taken is the birth of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund. Some of the raw materials you source locally are produced in the Northern part of the country. The infrastructure deficit that we have increased the cost of moving these materials from one place to another,” Adedeji assured.

Earlier, Alli pledged the company’s commitment in operating in the country, notwithstanding the macro-economic challenges being faced.