Manufacturers, SMEs exempted from withholding tax in new law

Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms

The Federal Government (FG) has signed into law the withholding tax bill proposed by the presidential fiscal policy and tax reforms committee which exempts manufacturers and small businesses from paying the tax.

This was disclosed by Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Committee, who spoke with journalists Thursday in Lagos.

“We sent the withholding tax proposal to the National Assembly for approval and I just heard it has been signed,” Oyedele said.

The tax advisory committee also recommended that governments at national and sub-national levels do away with over 60 taxes, leaving only eight taxes which are income tax, value added tax, property, custom duties, excise tax, stamp duties, special and harmonised levy.

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It has proposed the creation of the Nigerian Revenue Service as the central tax agency for the country with sub-national departments, eliminating over a 100 different collection agencies.

It also proposed that the government restructure the budget and classify items under infrastructure; human capital investment; personnel cost, headcount & productivity; administrative overheads; debt service & sinking funds and fully implemented zero-based budgeting, and introduce long-term appropriation.

It called on the government to tackle systemic corruption, prioritise spending on basic needs to address multidimensional poverty, restrict borrowing to productive spending and self-financing projects, and enhance public procurement effectiveness.

Hope Moses-Ashike & Bunmi Bailey

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.