2020 Finance Act: FG to Address Issues Raised by Investors, Taxpayers

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The federal government said it was collating the different issues raised by stakeholders in the 2020 Finance Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 2020.

This disclosure was made by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, at the virtual public consultation on Finance Act 2020 on Monday.

According to the Minister, the inputs of taxpayers, investors and others regarding the piece of law would be looked into and where necessary, would be included in the future finance acts.

“The window is open for ideas and concepts for inclusion into next year’s Finance Bill. As we had promised, this consultative process with all stakeholders will begin earlier to facilitate greater stakeholder engagement,” she said.

Mrs Ahmed further disclosed that she has tasked the “Fiscal Policy Reforms Committee to take note of important issues raised during last week’s sessions and collate any concerns that taxpayers, investors, business, individuals and other key stakeholders may have regarding the Finance Act 2020.”

But the Minister informed the participants that the act took into consideration the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the macroeconomy as well as business owners and residents of the country.

She said it was because of this that the federal government “adopted appropriate counter-cynical fiscal policies to accelerate economic recovery from the recent recession as well as to stimulate economic growth in key sectors of the economy.

One of these policies, the Minister said, is the provision of “fiscal relief for minimum wage earners, who are exempt from personal income tax, as well as commuters and other consumers of road transportation goods and service, who will now pay lower levels of duies and levies on imported vehicles.”

The finance act 2020, Mrs Ahmed further said, “extends the corporate income tax exemption in the 2019 finance act for micro and small enterprises with an annual turnover of N25 million or less to include exemption from paying tertiary education tax.”