Andersen debuts to change face of Nigerian tax administration

The Nigerian tax administrative system will now wear a new look as Andersen Tax debuts to  provide tax and legal services for international, multinational and individual clients across West Africa and globally.

Andersen Tax is an independent tax firm with a worldwide presence through the member firms and collaborating firms of Andersen Global.

Andersen Tax was officially launched in Lagos with a focus on private client and family wealth, transfer pricing, oil and, power, commercial practice, tax advisory and regulatory services, and others.

“The coming back of Andersen Tax will be a catalyst in tax administration and higher level compliance”, Olaleye Adebiyi, managing partner, Andersen Tax Nigeria said at the launch in Lagos.

He disclosed that with about 84 locations across the world, the firm would be launched in  Kenya on April 1, 2018 and before the end of second quarter of the year, it would launch in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Richard Kramer, chairman, African Capital Alliance/former managing partner, Arthur Andersen Nigeria, said the firm is coming at exactly the right time.

Kramer was concerned that the country’s oil revenue has been under attack over a period of years and that tax payers are not paying what they should.

However, he said “if you work with Andersen Tax, you will pay less tax”.

Speaking at the event, Okechukwu Enelamah, minister of industry, trade and investment, said a paradigm shift will help open opportunities and improve tax administration.

Enelamah urged AndersenTax to build on the strong foundation of professional firms, an overarching sense of mission that attracts the best people, an environment for the best people to thrive, client focus and service, deliberate client selection to preserve brand and retain the best people.

“Andersen Tax is the brand you could have chosen and hope you preserve the brand”, he said.

Delivering a keynote speech on tax initiatives undertaken by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, chairman, FIRS, noted that after an extensive nationwide  tax audit exercise, there was increased compliance across all tax types and all taxpayer categories.

He said over 15,000 non compliance stickers were pasted on identified business premises and reluctant tax payers were enforced upon, resulting to the recovery of N35.65 billion in tax revenue.

Fowler said the Service plans to attain top 50 position on the global index of ease of paying taxes by 2020 and sustain the ranking.

He said political parties are to be mandated to articulate and make public their tax agenda before and during election campaigns.