Nigeria: Finance Ministry issues amended regulation to reinstate WHT rate
The Finance Minister of Nigeria has issued amended regulations to increase the withholding tax (WHT) rate from 2.5% to 5% for all aspects of building, construction, and related activities (excluding survey, design and deliveries). The Regulation
See MoreNigeria: Budget 2017 has been presented to the parliament
The President of Nigeria has presented the budget 2017 on 14th December 2016 to a joint session of the National Assembly. The Budget includes the following proposals: reviving the export expansion grant scheme due to the tax credit’s provision
See MoreDTA between Morocco and Nigeria initialed
A tax treaty between Morocco and Nigeria has been initialed on 2nd December 2016 in Abuja due to avoid of double
See MoreNigeria: Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill 2015 passed by Senate
The amended Value Added Tax (VAT) Bill 2015 has been passed by the National Assembly on 13th October 2016. The Bill covers upwardly revised penalties and punishment for the commission of VAT violations. The Bill was passed by the Senate without
See MoreNigeria: Companies Income Tax Act (Amendment) Bill 2015 was passed in Senate
The amended Companies Income Tax Act bill 2015 has been passed the second reading in the Senate on 16th November 2016. The Bill proposes to deliver the following extra tax incentives to companies: Companies those are engaged in the mining of
See MoreNigeria: Draft revised national tax policy
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has published a public notice on 11th November 2016, which was issued by the Finance Ministry on the stakeholders' forum. This forum had been convened from 7th to 8th November 2016 to discuss the draft
See MoreNigeria: Tax amnesty regarding tax liability
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has issued guidance introducing a waiver of penalties and interest on some unpaid tax for the periods between 2013 and 2015. Taxpayers who are eligible for the penalty and interest waiver must declare the
See MoreNigeria: Withholding tax rate for construction-related payments
The Finance Ministry has approved recommendations from IRS to withdraw and revoke a rate reduction for withholding tax under the companies’ income tax rules. The withholding tax regulations had effective on 1st January 2015 and from that time the
See MoreNigeria: Country-by-country reporting update
A Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) has been signed by Nigeria for executing the exchange of country-by-country (CbC) reports. This reports will include summary of income earned and tax paid, and the number of employees positioned by
See MoreNigeria: IMF Managing Director Speaks at National Assembly
In a speech to the National Assembly on 6 January 2016 the IMF Managing Director summarized the global and regional economic position and the implications for national policy. The sub-Saharan Africa region is entering a period of reduced commodity
See MoreNigeria: Budget for the year 2016
The budget measures for 2016 were delivered to the National Assembly on 22nd December 2015. The government proposes to reduce reliance on oil revenues (which are expected to amount to NGN 820 billion) in 2016. Non-oil revenues, comprising company
See MoreNigeria: Implications of BEPS proposals
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has incorporated into its tax audit procedures certain of the recommendations included in the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project. For instance, the tax authority is scrutinizing
See MoreNigeria: Federal High Court reversed a decision regarding companies fixed base
The Federal High Court has reversed a decision of the Tax Appeal Tribunal in a case concerning if a corporation had a fixed base in Nigeria and concluded that the foreign corporation did not have a fixed base in Nigeria and was not responsible for
See MoreNigeria: Safe harbour concept in the transfer pricing regulations
The transfer pricing regulations in Nigeria are formally known as the ‘Income Tax (Transfer Pricing) Regulations No 1, 2012”. These regulate contacts between connected taxable persons or controlled transactions. The objective of the
See MoreNigeria: Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance on tax matters entered into force
As amended by the 2010 protocol, the multilateral agreement on Mutual Administrative Assistance regarding tax matters has been entered into force on 1st September 2015 in Nigeria and it generally applies from 1st January
See MoreNigeria: Reverse charge does not apply where nonresident companies render services to a resident
The Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) in Nigeria has delivered a decision in the case “Gazprom Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited (Gazprom) Vs FIRS on 10th June 2015. This concerns the imposition of a VAT charge on services by a nonresident company (NRC) to
See MoreNigeria: VAT exemption for basic food items
According to Nigeria’s tax law, basic food items are exempt from VAT. The Federal High Court (Lagos) of Nigeria has issued a decision concluding that packaged water is a basic food item and is exempt from VAT. The decision was issued on 11th May
See MoreNigeria: ECOWAS common external tariff to be implemented
The Nigerian Customs Service has issued a circular on 23rd June 2015 for accepting the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Common External Tariff (CET) 2015-2019. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana,
See More