This is according to the Special Adviser on Tax Policy to the Chairman of the Tax Reforms Committee, Mathew Osanekwu.
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Osanekwu who stated this at a workshop for media practitioners in Abuja, explained that amendments to the VAT Act had empowered the Federal Inland Revenue Service to bring non-resident companies offering services in Nigeria into the tax net.
He said: “These are not Nigerian entities, but they are now paying VAT under Section 10 of the VAT Act. They are registered in Nigeria and are also appointed as agents of collection.”
He pointed out that the development is in line with global best practices and ensures Nigeria benefits from taxes on services consumed locally but delivered by foreign companies.
Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Professor Taiwo Oyedele, in a remark, also clarified that the ongoing fiscal and tax reforms have not introduced any new taxes, contrary to widespread speculation.
He explained that the reforms were designed to ease the tax burden on low and middle-income earners while ensuring equity and fairness and that many of the levies being debated in the public space, including the controversial five per cent fuel surcharge, are not new but provisions in long-standing laws predating the current administration.
“It’s not a new tax. Some said the tax is being proposed. The tax is not being proposed. Some believe this president has introduced tax after tax, and I challenge them to point to one newly introduced tax,” Oyedele said.
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