First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has urged business owners in Nigeria to keep pace with current and emerging realities in the corporate environment, especially on taxation, in order to make their respective businesses competitive and enhance overall performance. In addition, the Bank would want stakeholders to build a more robust relationship that would enable Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMES) to effectively understand the country’s tax laws and how it applies to them.

FCMB made the submission at a virtual tax seminar it organised recently in partnership with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The seminar, the third in the series, was under the theme, “Tax and Your Business: An Indepth Discussion”. It recorded over 500 registered SME participants in attendance. The seminar provided a platform to equip entrepreneurs with requisite knowledge on taxation by promoting the exchange of ideas between tax regulators and businesses on existing and emerging tax matters to ensure compliance and avoid sanctions.

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Topics discussed at the seminar ranged from, Accessing your Tax Identification Number, Understanding Nigeria’s Business Tax System, Tax Reconciliation Issues: An SME Perspective, Tax Compliance and Business Performance, among others.

Among the experts who spoke at the virtual seminar were the Director, Taxpayer Service Department at the FIRS, Saadatu Yero; Acting Director, Special Taxes Department of the Service, Adamu Kudu; Divisional Head, Transaction Banking, FCMB, Rolayo Akhigbe; Group Head, Business Banking, George Ogbonnaya; Head, SME Digital Innovation, Dennis Ezaga; Partner, Pedabo Professional Services, Killian Khanoba and Chief Executive Officer, Square Bee Four Nigeria Limited, Efe Sodje.

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Iheanyi Nwachukwu, is a creative content writer with almost two decades journalism experience writing on banking, finance, capital markets, and tax. The multiple awards winning journalist is Assistant Editor, BusinessDay. Iheanyi holds BSc Degree in Economics from Imo State University; Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Management from University of Lagos. Iheanyi has attended several work-related trainings including (i) Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills (Pan African University, Lagos); (ii) News Agency Journalism (Indian Institute of Mass Communication {IIMC}, New Delhi, India); and (iii) Capital Markets Development and Regulations (International Law Institute {ILI} of Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA). Other trainings Iheanyi attended include: Economic/Political Risk Analysis (By Thomson Reuters Foundation); International Financial Journalism (IFJ) (By PMA Media Training, UK); Effective Business Writing Skills (By Phillips Consulting); Reporting on Corporate Governance (By International Finance Corporation (IFC) & Thomson Reuters Foundation UK); etc. In addition, he has participated in high-level economy & markets events in Dubai, South Africa, Morocco, and other African countries like Zambia, Ghana and Gambia.

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