Institute seeks review of Nigeria’s tax laws

The Chartered Institute of Taxation in Nigeria has called for a holistic review of the country’s international tax policies to have a framework that will increase tax revenue in the country.

This was part of discussions at the 25th annual tax conference of the institute in Abuja with the theme, ‘Nigeria of the future: Achieving sustainable development through taxation’.

“Urgent attention to countermeasures of tax avoidance by multinational enterprises has become important, therefore, there is a need to conduct a holistic review of our international tax policies including multilateral and bilateral agreements with a view to having a strong legislative framework that will increase tax revenue in Nigeria,” the CITN noted.

The participants said the evolution of digital economy in recent years has created opportunities for tax authorities to develop regulatory frameworks for taxing numerous businesses and transactions.

The digital economy, they noted, has created new growth and employment opportunities and as a result, the number of gig workers providing labour service through platforms under one-off contract is increasing.

However, existing laws and institutional systems, particularly, tax and social security systems, were not well adapted to this new situation, even though there is significant improvement in terms of awareness of taxing digital businesses, the CITN said.

Punch/Hauwa Abu