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Doing Business in Nigeria | |
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Thursday, October 11, 2018 05:19AM / Presidency
President Muhammadu Buhari has signed an
executive order mandating Nigerian taxpayers to declare and pay tax on their
offshore assets.
Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman,
announced this in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the statement, asset owners
have a 12-month window grace to declare and pay tax on their assets, under the
new executive order number eight, tagged Voluntary Offshore Assets
Regularization Scheme (VOARS).
Garba Shehu said the order took effect
from October 8, when the president signed it.
According to the order, “any taxpayer who
truthfully and voluntarily complies with the conditions of the scheme, pays a
one-time levy of 35 percent on the total offshore assets or pays all
outstanding taxes, penalties and interest after forensic audit of their
offshore assets and income shall obtain immunity from prosecution for tax
offenses and offences related to offshore assets, among others.
“Equally, failure of any defaulting
taxpayer to take advantage of this scheme shall, at the expiration of the
scheme result in investigation and enforcement procedures concerning offshore
assets anywhere in the world pursuant to information now readily available
through automatic exchange of information between Nigeria and foreign
countries.”
The statement read:
“By this order, Nigerian taxpayers who
hold offshore assets and incomes are expected to, within a period of 12 months,
declare voluntary those assets and pay taxes on them. When they do this, they
should expect to derive certain specified benefits.
In accordance with the new order, the
Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice will set up a VOARS in Switzerland for all
categories of taxpayers who have defaulted in the declaration of their offshore
assets, payment of taxes due and collectible subject to the fulfillment of the
terms and conditions as stipulated in the order, or any other subsequent
complementary regulations that follow.
To avoid the abuse of this process, the
Federal Government makes clear that the “scheme is open to all persons,
entities, and their intermediaries holding offshore assets and are in default
of their tax obligations in any way, including those who are not already under
investigation by law enforcement agencies in Nigeria or any other country and
have not been charged with any crimes including theft of public funds or
obtaining offshore assets through corrupt practices.”
“In signing the order, President Buhari
noted that under the Nigerian law, every citizen has the duty to declare his or
her income and assets and pay taxes on them but regretted that this, in most
instances, had not been the case.
“The sad reality is that efforts to
recover these taxes from defaulters through litigation are often frustrated by
the complications caused by the change in the character and nature of such
assets, insufficient financial intelligence, long delays in courts, among
several other reasons.
“President Buhari is optimistic that the
new scheme will help to facilitate the expedient regularization of offshore
assets connected to Nigeria and lead to “a new expanded tax base for the
Federal Government, and also fund the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund in Switzerland.”
Previous Executive Orders
1. VIDEO: Discourse
on Recent Executive Orders by the Nigerian ... - Proshare
2. Executive Order No. 6 On Preservation Of Suspicious Assets And Related Schedules Jul 08, 2018
3. FG
to Remove VAT on Residential Properties, Amends Company Income Tax Law June
7, 2018
5. Executive
Orders: Key Enablers for Driving Execution & Impact July 10, 2017
6. Osinbajo
Signs 3 Executive Orders - Ease of Business, Budget Submissions & Made In
Nigeria Products May 19, 2017
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