President Bola Tinubu has approved a new withholding tax policy for Nigeria, altering the tax system that has been in place since 1977. This was disclosed by Taiwo Ayodele, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, on Tuesday.
Ayodele highlighted that the new withholding tax policy aims to alleviate the heavy burden imposed by the previous policy on farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This change is expected to provide significant relief and promote growth within these sectors.
“Withholding tax was introduced into the Nigeria tax system in 1977 to serve as an advance payment of income tax on specified transactions. It was designed to provide the government with regular revenue flow and to serve as a means of curbing tax evasion,” Taiwo gave as background.
He listed the challenges of the old withholding tax regime to include, “Ambiguities regarding persons required to comply, eligible transactions, applicable rates, and timing of the obligation for remittance, among others.”
“Treatment of the deduction as a separate tax, thereby adding to the list of multiple taxes and cost of doing business. Challenges regarding obtaining refunds for excess withholding tax.
“Lack of exemption threshold making the cost of compliance by taxpayers and cost of enforcement by the tax authority uneconomical. Some emerging and contemporary issues are not properly addressed,” the Tax Reform Chairman said.
He said the overall structure of the withholding tax regime promoted tax inequity.
Ayodele further disclosed that the new withholding tax regime document approved by Tinubu would be published in the official gazette in few days.
He identified the key changes made to include: “Exemption of small businesses from Withholding Tax compliance. Reduced rates for businesses with low margins. Exemptions for manufacturers and producers such as farmers.”
He added that measures to curb evasion and minimise tax avoidance, ease of obtaining credit and utilisation of tax deducted at source, changes to reflect emerging issues and adopt global best practices and clarity on the timing of deduction and definition of key terms, as other reforms in the new withholding tax policy.
