Economy
Nigeria Mulls Compressing Taxes into 8 Categories, N800/$1 Customs Duty
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee has recommended the harmonisation of taxes and levies collectable by the three tiers of government into eight broad headings.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, said the proposed streamlining of taxes sought to make tax administration modern, simple, and adaptive to the Nigerian economy.
Speaking at a public consultation workshop for journalists and public analysts with the theme, Proposed Changes to the National Tax Policy, Tax Laws and Administration, in Lagos on Thursday, Mr Oyedele also urged the federal government to adopt an exchange rate of N800 per Dollar for customs import duty.
He expressed concern over the import duty rate, which constantly changed due to the volatility of the foreign exchange (FX) market, adding that this does not allow for adequate planning by businesses.
According to him, “When we did the budget, we said Naira to Dollar will be N800, now it is 1,000 something. People need to plan.
“So now, we’re saying, dear government, can you, please, sign an order that says for paying import duty, we shall use N800… for the rest of the year till December. So, we have proposed N800.”
The proposed list of harmonised taxes and levies included income tax, property tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), customs duties, excise tax, stamp duties, special levy, and harmonised levy.
Mr Oyedele said, “The principles that we are working with is to do away with nuisance taxes with very low revenue yield, high cost of collection and ultimate burden on the poor and small businesses.
“We are focusing on high revenue yielding taxes that are broad-based and relatively easy to collect by merging taxes and levies that are imposed on the same or substantially similar tax base and keep the total number of taxes across all levels of government to a single digit.”
He said the committee further recommended the institutionalisation of tax harmonisation reforms to ensure its sustainability.
Mr Oyedele explained that the committee had consolidated the education and police taxes under the special levy, adding that “We introduced the special levy with just one rate and we take out all those other taxes”.
He said the Harmonised Tax Levy (HTL), which comprised road and market taxes, was meant to cater for the local governments.
He said under the proposed new tax regime, income tax should now comprise Company Income Tax (CIT), Withholding Tax (WHT), CPT, and capital gain tax, among others.
“We are hoping that when we are done there will be no consumption tax in any state. We will just agree that it is VAT and it is VAT.
“We will specify who is paying it, who is collecting it and who owns the tax. Nigerians tend to assume that if the FIRS (Federal Inland Revenue Service) collect taxes it is for the federal government alone.
“No. Even though the number of taxes we propose is eight, the federal government will feel like collecting five taxes; state governments will feel they are collecting seven taxes; local governments collecting six taxes.”
According to him, “All these will be done automatically and when we are done, there will not be need to be sharing FAAC on a monthly basis.
“The tiers of government will get their accounts credited daily.”
He stressed that the objective of the committee was to simplify the tax to reduce the burden on businesses, particularly SMEs.
Mr Oyedele said part of the committee’s advocacy was an exemption for withholding taxes for small businesses within the range of N50 million annually as they will lack the capacity to comply.
He also revealed that the committee’s reform of the withholding tax, which he said remained the most difficult and complex tax to comply with in Nigeria, had been approved.
“The good news is that it has moved from proposal to approval because it has been signed, waiting to be gazetted. Among our objectives is to simplify the tax to reduce the burden on businesses, particularly SMEs.
“We want to promote competitiveness, prevent tax avoidance, detect tax evasion and close the tax gap that reflects what is happening globally.”
He also said, “We have reduced the rates for businesses producing goods and services because their margins are very small.
“We have created exemptions for manufacturers. So, if you are manufacturing anything, do not worry about withholding tax.
“We have put measures to curb evasion. These are part of the reforms that we have introduced in withholding tax regulation that has just been approved.”
The committee further recommended that any extra revenue incurred by the government should be used to pay down its Ways and Means borrowing from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
It also urged the federal government to use some portion of banks’ Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to provide concessionary interest rates at a single digit for manufacturers.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The deadline for filing individual annual income tax returns for residents of Lagos State has again been extended to April 21, 2026.
This information was revealed via a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Communications of the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mrs Monsurat Amasa-Oyelude, on Saturday.
The agency thanked some taxpayers for their continued compliance and commitment to the filing of their individual annual income tax returns, but charged those who have yet to file theirs to do so before the new deadline.
LIRS had earlier moved the deadline from its statutory period of March 31, 2026, to April 14, 2026, but due to “the overwhelming response and to enhance taxpayer convenience, while maintaining the integrity and accuracy of submissions,” the date was moved forward to April 26.
The tax-collecting organisation said it “observed a significant increase in traffic on its eTax platform as more taxpayers endeavour to meet the filing deadline.”
“In view of this development, and to ensure that all taxpayers are provided with adequate opportunity to successfully complete their filings, LIRS hereby announces a further extension of the deadline, now set for April 21, 2026,” it stated.
The agency reiterated that all filings must be completed electronically via the LIRS eTax platform: https://etax.lirs.net, which remains the only approved channel for submission.
Taxpayers were reminded that the filing of annual income tax returns remains a statutory obligation and were encouraged to take advantage of this final extension to fulfil their civic responsibility.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was in green on Friday after it closed higher by 0.30 per cent as a result of sustained bargain hunting.
Customs Street was up yesterday after three of the five major sectors came under buying pressure, with the consumer goods index up by 1.64 per cent, the industrial goods space up by 1.12 per cent, and the banking counter up by 0.64 per cent.
Business Post observed that profit-taking brought down the insurance by 2.61 per cent, and weakened the energy sector by 0.01 per cent.
At the close of business, the market capitalisation increased by N707 billion to N131.166 trillion from N130.459 trillion, and the All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 1,097.86 points to 203,770.42 from 202,672.56 points.
Transactions by Nigerian stock investors shrank during the session, as 548.6 million shares worth N31.5 billion exchanged hands in 48,538 deals compared with the 652.9 million shares valued at N39.8 billion transacted in 51,101 deals a day earlier.
This implied that the trading volume went down by 15.98 per cent, the trading value depreciated by 20.85 per cent, and the number of deals crashed by 5.02 per cent.
Access Holdings finished the day as the busiest equity after selling 52.7 million units valued at N1.4 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 47.8 million units worth N5.4 billion, UBA traded 38.9 million units for N1.8 billion, Secure Electronic Technology transacted 36.7 million units worth N35.5 million, and GTCO sold 34.9 million units valued at N4.6 billion.
The market breadth index was negative during the session with 20 price gainers and 38 price losers, indicating weak investor sentiment.
Trans Nationwide Express appreciated by 9.91 per cent to N3.77, International Breweries grew by 9.88 per cent to N13.35, Chams rose by 9.84 per cent to N3.35, Guinea Insurance improved by 9.38 per cent to N462.90, and Lafarge Africa gained 8.52 per cent to close at N233.20.
On the flip side, Omatek lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N2.07, Austin Laz declined by 9.93 per cent to N3.99, Coronation Insurance dipped by 9.88 per cent to N2.92, Zichis crashed by 9.58 per cent to N12.55, and Cornerstone Insurance retreated by 8.77 per cent to N5.20.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed the last trading session of the week in the southern territory after further losing 0.59 per cent on Friday, April 10.
This happened as three price decliners weakened the NASD market due to continued sell-offs. The bourse did not finish in green this week.
11 Plc lost N24.70 to close at N222.30 per share compared with the previous day’s N247.00 per share, MRS Oil dropped N1 to settle at N164.00 per unit versus Thursday’s N165.00 per unit, and Geo-Fluids decreased by 25 Kobo to N3.00 per share from N3.25 per share.
As a result, the market capitalisation shrank by N13.79 billion to N2.315 trillion from N2.329 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 23.05 points to 3,870.45 points from 3,893.50 points.
Yesterday, there were two price gainers led by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which chalked up N1.07 to sell at N64.21 per unit versus N63.50 per share, and Impresit Bakalori Plc appreciated by 22 Kobo to N2.42 per share from N2.20 per share.
The volume of securities fell by 81.9 per cent to 188,593 units from 1.04 million units, the value of securities decreased by 36.3 per cent to N25.7 million from N40.4 million, and the number of deals remained unchanged at 26 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 57.6 million units exchanged for N3.9 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.6 million units worth N1.8 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units transacted for N8.4 billion, followed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units s0ld for N415.7 million and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded at N1.2 billion.
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