Reps Amend Tax Bill, Retain 7.5% VAT, Remove Others
Nigeria’s House of Representatives (Reps) Committee on Finance has amended some provisions of President Bola Tinubu’s tax bill to incorporate some concerns of stakeholders during its public hearing held in February.
Some of the amendments affected controversial areas. Among the changes made by the lawmakers were the rejection of the proposed increase in value-added tax (VAT) and discontinuation of funding for agencies such as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) by 2030.
Chairman of the committee, James Faleke, while presenting key amendments during consideration of the bill, said the stakeholders recommended a reduction of the tax rate to 5%.
However, the committee proposed to retain the current VAT at 7.5%, a move the House has officially adopted. The Committee deleted the clause on the proposed introduction of inheritance tax as well as the proposal defending NASENI, TETFUND, and NITDA.
On taxation of free trade zones, the committee recommended that operators of free trade zones must be limited to 75% for export and 25% outside the free zones before they would enjoy the tax benefits. Nigerian Exchange Falls by N73bn as Investors Dump VFD, OANDO
