Economy
VAIDS: Avoid Last Minute Rush—FIRS Boss Begs Nigerians
By Dipo Olowookere
Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler, has urged Nigerians to quickly regularise their tax payment before the tax amnesty period closes on Saturday, June 30, 2018.
On July 1, 2017, the federal government opened a grace period for citizens to voluntarily regularise their tax payment without punishment.
It called the programme Voluntary Assets Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) and it initially ended March 31, 2018. However, many Nigerians pleaded with the government for an extension and the government obliged, pushing the deadline further to June 30, 2018.
At the unveiling of VAIDS Certificate for previously undeclared assets, which coincided with a one-day workshop for tax authorities on the scheme, Mr Fowler said the scheme has so far recovered almost N30 billion.
He explained that of the amount, FIRS collected 90 per cent while states have been responsible for collecting 10 per cent but that the actual amount collected would not be known immediately after the June 30 expiration of VAIDS but after three years when every taxpayer would have finished paying their assessment under the scheme.
At the workshop held on Wednesday in Abuja, the FIRS chief advised states boards of inland revenue to brace up for last minute rush as the deadline for the scheme draws near, saying that since people generally don’t like to pay tax, most of them would wait until the last minute before rushing to tax offices to file their returns.
According to him, the benefit of VAIDS goes beyond just taking advantage of immediate gains as incidences of illicit financial flows, aggressive tax avoidance and outright tax evasion have come into the front burner.
“One of the outcomes of the scheme whether directly or indirectly is the growth of the national taxpayer database from under 14 million pre-2016 numbers to over 19 million in 2018, and we are confident that these numbers will translate into a positive growth in the country tax revenue to GDP ratio when the official percentage for 2017 has been released.
“VAIDS as a project ties in with the Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWO) of the United Kingdom and in m more ways than one shares similar underlying principles with the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance on Tax Matters (MCMAATM) which facilitates international tax cooperation and provides for all possible forms of administrative co-operation between states in the assessment and collection of taxes, in particular with a view to combating tax avoidance and evasion,” he said.
He enumerated the cooperation to include the exchange of information on request, automatically and spontaneously, to assistance in the recovery of foreign tax claims.
In line with the convention, Mr Fowler said efforts were being made towards ensuring that Nigeria commences the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) with treaty partners in 2019.
As part of efforts to preach voluntary tax compliance to the grassroots, Fowler, who is also Chairman of Joint Tax Board said a partnership has been forged among FIRS, JTB and SMEDAN as a way of bringing operators of small and medium scale enterprises into the tax bracket.
From June 14, the staff of JTB and Federal Ministry of Finance will participate in every Thursday sensitisation exercises in states until June end while “the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee is proposing National Tax Day” to be set aside every year for awareness and sensitisation on tax and tax-related matters.
While cautioning that VAIDS certificate is not an equivalent of tax clearance certificate, Mr Fowler disclosed that some hidden features have been engraved to make it fake and counterfeit-proof.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government has been asked by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to suspend the implementation of the controversial tax laws.
In a reaction to the tax reform acts, the president of the group, Mr Afam Osigwe (SAN), the suspension of the laws would allow for a proper investigation into allegations of alterations in the gazetted and harmonised copies.
A member of the House of Representatives, Mr Abdussamad Dasuki, alleged that some parts of the laws passed by the parliament were different from the gazetted copy.
To address the issues raised, the NBA said it is “imperative that a comprehensive, open, and transparent investigation be conducted to clarify the circumstances surrounding the enactment of the laws and to restore public confidence in the legislative process.”
“Until these issues are fully examined and resolved, all plans for the implementation of the Tax Reform Acts should be immediately suspended,” the association declared.
It noted that the controversies “raise grave concerns about the integrity, transparency, and credibility of Nigeria’s legislative process.”
“These developments strike at the very heart of constitutional governance and call into question the procedural sanctity that must attend lawmaking in a democratic society,” it noted.
“Legal and policy uncertainty of this magnitude has far-reaching consequences. It unsettles the business environment, erodes investor confidence, and creates unpredictability for individuals, businesses, and institutions required to comply with the law. Such uncertainty is inimical to economic stability and should have no place in a system governed by the rule of law.
“Nigeria’s constitutional democracy demands that laws, especially those with profound economic and social implications, emerge from processes that are transparent, accountable, and beyond reproach. Anything short of this undermines public trust and weakens the foundation upon which lawful governance rests.
“We therefore call on all relevant authorities to act swiftly and responsibly in addressing this controversy, in the overriding interest of constitutional order, economic stability, and the preservation of the rule of law,” the organisation stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Demand for hot stocks, including MRS Oil Plc, buoyed the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.52 per cent on Tuesday, December 23.
The energy company was one of the three price gainers for the session as it chalked up N19.69 to sell at N216.59 per share versus the previous day’s value of N196.90 per share.
Further, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained N2.95 to close at N56.75 per unit versus N53.80 per unit and Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 84 Kobo to N9.29 per share from Monday’s N8.45 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation went up by N10.95 billion to N2.125 trillion from N2.125 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) rose by 18.31 points to 3,570.37 points from 3,552.06 points.
Yesterday, the NASD bourse recorded a price loser, the Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), which gave up 17 Kobo to close at N33.70 per unit against the previous trading value of N33.87 per unit.
The volume of securities traded at the session went down by 97.6 per cent to 297,902 units from the previous day’s 12.6 million units, the value of securities decreased by 98.5 per cent to N10.5 million from N713.6 million, and the number of deals remained flat at 32 deals.
By value, Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended as the most actively traded stock on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units exchanged for N16.4 billion. This was followed by Okitipupa Plc, which traded 178.9 million units valued at N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
In terms of volume, also on a year-to-date basis, InfraCredit Plc led the chart with a turnover of 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion. Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc ranked second with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, while Impresit Bakolori Plc followed with the sale of 536.9 million units valued at N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
It was another bullish trading session for the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as it closed higher by 0.59 per cent on Tuesday.
The market further rallied due to continued interest in large and mid-cap stocks on the exchange by investors rebalancing their portfolios for the year-end.
Yesterday, Aluminium Extrusion sustained its upward trajectory after it further appreciated by 9.96 per cent to N14.90, as Austin Laz gained 9.81 per cent to close at N2.91, Custodian Investment improved by 9.69 per cent to N38.50, and First Holdco soared by 9.35 per cent to N50.30.
Conversely, Royal Exchange declined by 7.22 per cent to N1.80, Champion Breweries shrank by 6.57 per cent to N15.65, NASCON lost 5.36 per cent to trade at N105.05, Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 5.28 per cent to N3.77, and Japaul went down by 4.51 per cent to N2.33.
At the close of business, 29 shares ended on the gainers’ table and 27 shares finished on the losers’ log, representing a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.
This raised the All-Share Index (ASI) by 895.06 points to 153,354.13 points from 152,459.07 points and lifted the market capitalisation by N579 billion to N97.772 trillion from the previous day’s N97.193 trillion.
VFD Group finished the day as the busiest stock after it recorded a turnover of 192.0 million units worth N2.1 billion, GTCO exchanged 63.5 million units valued at N5.6 billion, Access Holdings traded 49.8 million units for N1.0 billion, First Holdco sold 45.8 million units valued at N2.3 billion, and Secure Electronic Technology transacted 38.3 million units worth N28.4 million.
In all, market participants bought and sold 677.4 million units valued at N20.8 billion in 27,589 deals compared with the 451.5 million units worth N13.0 billion traded in 33,327 deals on Monday, showing an improvement in the trading volume and value by 50.03 per cent and 60.00 per cent apiece, and a shortfall in the number of deals by 17.22 per cent.
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