DISSECTING TINUBU’S LANDMARK TAX REFORM BILLS (Part 1)
By Chibuzo Mikel
President Bola Tinubu on October 3, 2024 transmitted four tax reform bills to the national assembly. The bills are the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill. Together, these bills would overhaul tax administration and revenue generation in Nigeria as many of the provisions contained in them are landmark in nature.
These tax reforms bills did not come out from the blues, they are products of a year worth of intense hard work and consultation by the Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in August 2023 – two months after assuming office as President. It was obvious President Tinubu saw tax reforms as one of the primary things his administration needs to achieve in order to lay a strong fiscal and revenue foundation for sustainable growth for the rest of his tenure and beyond.
This is why, in fulfilment of his campaign promise as contained in page 16 of his Renewed Hope manifesto, the President saddled the responsibility of overhauling Nigeria’s tax laws and administration on the shoulders of a renown tax expert, Taiwo Oyedele. Having gone through the entire 397 pages that make up the four tax reform bills, I can confidently say that the Committee did a wonderful job. In the first part of this piece, I will give a synopsis of the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024.
A SUMMARY OF THE NIGERIA TAX BILL, 2024
The Nigeria Tax Bill (hereinafter referred to as the NTB), is a comprehensive piece of legislation that seeks to outline all taxes in the country hitherto administered by virtue of different laws and compress them into a single simplified law. Most importantly, the NTB vests upon the Nigeria Revenue Service (expected to succeed FIRS) powers to collect all national taxes including royalties hitherto collected by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and excise duties, import VAT etc hitherto collected by the Nigeria Customs Service.
The coming into force of the Nigeria tax bill will lead to the repeal of 11 laws/enactments while 13 other laws shall experience consequential amendments. The NTB will also lead to the revocation of one subsidiary legislation and consequential amendments on two other subsidiary legislations. The laws that would be revoked once the NTB comes into effect (as currently proposed) include:
1. Capital Gains Tax Act
2. Casino Act
3. Companies Income Tax Act
4. Deep offshore and Inland Basin Act
5. Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act
6. Income Tax (Authorised Communications) Act
7. Personal Income Tax Act
8. Petroleum Profits Tax Act
9. Stamp Duties Act
10. Value Added Tax Act and
11. Venture Capital (Incentives) Act.
The existing legislation that will witness consequential amendments include:
1. The Petroleum Industry Act, No 6. 2021 (the areas to be deleted in the PIA include: part I – X of chapter four; the Fifth and Sixth Schedule; paragraphs 6, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the Seventh Schedule; and subparagraph 6 of paragraph 14 of the Seventh Schedule.
2. The Nigerian Export Processing Zones Act (sections 8 and 18(1)(a) deleted).
3. The Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone Act (sections 8 and 18(1)(a) deleted).
4. The National Information Technology Development Agency Act (sections 1, 2, and 3(3) deleted).
5. The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment, Etc.) Act (sections 1, 2, and 3(3) deleted).
6. The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (Establishment) Act (section 20(2), paragraph b(i) and b(ii) deleted).
7. The Customs, Excise Tariffs, Etc. (Consolidation) Act (section 21(2) deleted).
8. The National Lottery Act (sections 35A, 35B and 35C deleted).
9. The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act (sections 28 and 33 deleted).