Nigeria: Public notice of new filing rules for non-resident companies

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has issued a public notice in accordance with section 55 of the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA) on 28^th January 2015 requiring all resident and non-resident companies to file their tax returns on a real profits basis. On the basis of section 30 of the CITA, some companies have been filing their tax returns on a deemed profits or turnover basis. In accordance with FIRS, the rules for filing tax returns in respect to section 55 of the CITA doesn’t prevent it from practicing its discretion to assess and charge tax based on a company’s turnover. All non-resident companies that have not been submitting their tax returns in accordance with section 55 are needed to do so as from the assessment year commencing 1^st January 2015. The information regarding audited financial statements, capital allowances computations and tax computations based on actual profits have to be submitted along with the revised tax returns.