FIRS Woos Foreign Investors To Nigeria With Attractive Tax

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has tasked foreign investors to consider Nigeria as their first option for business considering the attractive tax incentives, reliefs and attractive end-price the country offers.

Executive Chairman, FIRS, Tunde Fowler, who spoke at the Nigeria-Canada Investment Summit, in Abuja, said Nigeria should be awarded on the international scene for the number of reliefs and incentives it grants to both local and foreign businesses.Fowler said there are attractive tax incentives and reliefs in Personal Income Tax Act, Companies Income Tax Act, Capital Gains Tax Act, Value Added Tax Act, agriculture and foreign investment.

For instance, under the Personal Income Tax (PIT), Fowler noted that the following tax reliefs are provided by the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA).

“Sometimes when I look at these tax incentives and reliefs, I feel that Nigeria is the Father Christmas. But that is necessary for the growth of the economy because they attract investors,” Fowler said. Besides, he argued that Nigeria can earn up to 80 per cent of her revenues from the non-oil sector in the next three years.

According to him, the non-oil sector contribution to the Nigerian economy has risen to 60 per cent currently, from 54 per cent in December 2018, noting that the continuous drop in oil prices is a sign that attention should be focused on the non-oil sector that is more sustainable.“We are moving from oil dependent to non-oil dependent economy. We believe that in the next three years, the non-oil sector is going to contribute at least 80 per cent of the total revenue. You may ask where is that going to come from. It is going to come from Agriculture,” he said.

He said the strategies the FIRS is adopting for improved revenue collection auto VAT collection; VAT collection, which raked in N25.6billion from 2017 to date; VAT collection in Cable TV that have generated N5.1billion from December last year to October 18, 2019.“Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) project is a suite of programmes that enable the automation of FIRS tax processes. As part of the Service’s objectives to bring high-level efficiency to tax revenue collection and provide first class services to taxpayers, ITAS project introduced SIGTAS, a solution that covers all aspects of tax administration in one integrated system.

“Government Information Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) is an interface linking FIRS to the OAGF for real-time exchange of information and data; State Offices of Accountant General Platform (SAG); Automated the deduction at source and remittance of VAT and WHT from state governments contract payments directly to FIRS’s account and so far collected N13billion,” he said.He noted that the deployment on online solutions is making tax administration more efficient, transparent and convenient.