The Federal Government of Nigeria has mapped out plans to create an allowance for tax payers in the country to make instalmental payments.
This is coming from the introduction of the new Nigeria Tax Bill 2024 , recently submitted to the National House of Assembly for consideration and approval.
The details of the bill as contained in the document was obtained by Journalists in Abuja, today the 14th of October, 2024.
This new bill suggests that, each individual now has a fair atmosphere to fulfil their tax obligations either by making a complete payment at once or in making payments instalmentally.
Amongst the fresh tax bills submitted to the National Assembly, is the proposal for the establishment of a special account by the Accountant-General of the Federation for tax refunds.
The Federal government also instituted a comprehensive set of fresh tax reforms aimed towards significantly boosting revenue collections.
A total of four new bills were sent to the two chambers of the National Assembly which are aimed at providing legislative frameworks to some proposals of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee headed by Taiwo Oyedele.
These new reforms are designed to enable the efficiency of collecting direct taxes, along with various levies that are imposed on behalf of the government, will put a stop to the Nigerian Customs Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, and 60 other revenue collection agencies from participating in revenue collection activities, which will also lead to the creation of the Nigeria Revenue Service.
It also made a proposal for the creation of a tax tribunal and ombudsman in the country.
The bill states that taxpayers shall be refunded of any overpayment recorded or excess tax levy, following an audit by the relevant tax authority.
The bill partly reads thus : "The relevant tax authority may make such rules and conditions necessary to facilitate the refund mentioned in subsection one of this section. Any tax refund due shall be made within 90 days of the decision of the relevant tax authority made pursuant to subsection two of this section, with the option of a set-off against any tax liability of the taxpayer.
“For the purpose of tax refund, the Accountant-General of the Federation or of a State shall open a dedicated account for each tax type into which shall be paid money for settling tax refunds. The relevant tax authority shall provide the Accountant-General of the Federation or of a State an estimate of the amount to be set aside for tax refunds.
“The dedicated accounts created under subsection (4) of this section shall be administered by the relevant tax authority and be funded from the respective accounts of Government into which revenue of each tax-type is remitted. No claim for refund of tax under this section shall be allowed unless it is made in writing within six years after the end of the year of assessment to which it relates.
“A taxable person who qualifies for VAT refund shall request the Service in the prescribed form. Where a valid request is received from a taxable person, the Service shall not later than 30 days of the receipt of that request, refund the tax to the taxable person or the amount shall be eligible for set-off against any tax liability of the taxpayer.”
Meanwhile, a close insight of the 160-page document showed that the government, as part of efforts to increase collection, mentioned the possibility of tax payment in instalments.
The section 48 of the draft bill read, “Subject to section 11 of this Act and without prejudice to any other provision of this Act, every person shall make payment of tax due on or before the due date of filing in one lump sum or instalments, provided that the final instalment shall be paid on or before the due date of filing.”
It also stated that the amount shall be payable in equal monthly instalments together with a final instalment and shall be in an amount equal to one-twelfth or where the accounting period is less than a year.
“Without prejudice to section 16 of this Act, the tax due for any accounting period shall be payable in equal monthly instalments together with a final instalment as provided in subsection four of this section.
“The first monthly payment shall be due and payable not later than the third month of the accounting period and shall be in an amount equal to one-twelfth or where the accounting period is less than a year, in an amount of equal monthly proportions of the amount of tax estimated to be chargeable for such accounting period in accordance with this Act.
“Each of the remainder of monthly payments to be made subsequent to the payment under subsection two of this section shall be due and payable not later than the last day of the month under consideration; and in an amount equal to the amount of tax estimated to be chargeable for such period by reference to the latest returns submitted by the company in accordance with section 16 of this Act less so much as has already been paid for such accounting period divided by the number of the monthly payments remaining to be made in respect of such accounting period,” the draft copy added.
The bill further tells that the final installment of tax shall be due and payable on or before the deadline for filing the self-assessment for that accounting period.
This amount will be the tax assessed for the period excluding any amounts already paid under subsections two and three of this section.
