By Adedapo Adesanya
As part of the federal government’s directive to ease the process of doing business in the country, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) said the processes of registering a business and getting a tax ID have been merged.
This means prospective business owners who want to register their companies would no longer need to approach the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for a tax identification number (TIN).
In a statement released on Monday, CAC said its certificates of incorporation issued to business owners will now carry TINs, eliminating the long process of acquiring the tax IDs from the FIRS.
“This is to inform our esteemed customers that as part of the ease of doing business initiative, certificates of incorporation of companies registered under part A of CAMA will henceforth carry tax identification numbers issued by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS),” the commission said.
“This has dispensed with the need for companies to apply for the issuance of tax identification numbers from FIRS after incorporation,” the agency added.
President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has been making efforts to improve Nigeria’s ease of doing business ranking of the World Bank.
This has led to the setting up of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to remove bottlenecks in the business environment and attract investments.
Another similar initiative that the FG has pushed out to achieve this goal include the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) offering micro, small and medium scale enterprises 80 percent discount to get their products registered. The discount, which began in May, will last for six months.
Also, between October 2018 and March 2019, MSMEs were offered a N5,000 flat rate to register business names with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Nigeria is ranked 131 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings. The rank of Nigeria improved to 131 in 2019 from 146 in 2018.
Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria is expected to reach 155.00 basis points by the end of 2020, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria is projected to trend around 155.00 in 2021. according to its latest econometric models.
Modupe Gbadeyanka