The Finance Act was signed into law by Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 31st Day of December, 2021. The Finance Act 2021 amended 13 different tax and fiscal legislations to ensure that all loose ends are fastened to ensure Nigeria does not continue to lose more revenue and ensure a robust capital based in meeting present and future budget accomplishments.
Here are some of the highlights of this Amended Act;
- The law mandates that when you sell your shares in any Nigerian company and you make gains, you are expected to pay a tax of 10% to the government.
- The law allows the government through the new Digital Tax law to be promulgated soon to tax companies that provide digital services in Nigeria but are not registered in Nigeria like Facebook, Twitter, Apple Music and other to pay tax.
- Oil companies are to pay tax from profits earned in the upstream, midstream or downstream petroleum operations.
- The Act state that for a Real Estate Investment to be regarded as one, it must be registered with the security and exchange commission.
- The FIRS is empowered by this Act to assess, collect and enforce the payment of the Nigerian Police Trust Fund Levy.
- Any company that is not registered in Nigeria but supplies goods to its Nigerian customers must obtain a Tax Identification Number (TIN) and pay Tax.
- A tax of N10 per litre has been imposed on non-alchoholic, carbonated and sweetened beverages. This means there would be an increase in price of soft drinks soon.
- Banking, Mobile telecommunication, ICT, Aviation, Maritime, and Oil & gas companies with turnover of N100 Million are to pay Science and Engineering Levy of 0.25 of their profit. This explains the increase in Airline ticket price, data subscription and other services.
- By this Act, only the FIRS can collect tax and levies on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria and its agencies.
- FIRS staff must treat confidential the details of all tax payers and where this is breached, they can be sued for violating your right to data privacy.
- This Act allows the government take loans provided the loan is gotten at low interest rates with flexible payment periods.
CONCLUSION
The provisions of this Act further reiterate the commitment of the government to ensure the realization of fiscal revenue to help in budget implementation to meet modern yearnings for developmental achievements in Nigeria. It can be gleaned from the provisions of this Act that there are so many increments in taxation percentage and also the Nigerian government by this act ensures that no revenue is lost from businesses and activities carried on by non-resident company providing data services.
