Manufacturers, SMEs exempted from withholding tax in new law

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.

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.