Although small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria play a critical role in employing millions of people, the sector has one of the lowest tax contributions to the GDP, at 6 percent. South Africa, however, boasts of about 28 percent tax to GDP ratio.
This could be attributed to the shortage of liquidity in the space as a result of unfavourable macroeconomics, tax evasion, and lack of capacity to employ solutions that addresses their tax problems which in many cases could be very expensive.
Taxmingo, an online tax consultancy firm that launched in January, hopes it will help SMEs more comfortable with remitting their taxes while not breaking the bank.
Starting from N7,500 monthly subscription, Taxmingo offers a cloud-based tax management solution, expertise of experienced chartered accountants, tax professionals, and its network of tax consultants to help SMEs meet tax obligations and allow the SME operators to focus their energies on growing businesses.
The platform also allows small business owners to explore its tax computation, return filing, and advisory services by creating an account, providing relevant information and documents to obtain a free tax health check. Once that is concluded, the business owner is paired with a certified tax professional who then takes him or her through the business’ tax health and helps the company to effectively comply with taxes.
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Richard Ojo, founder and CEO of Taxmingo said there are studies that have shown that business owners would willingly pay taxes if they know how to go about it. Taxmingo’s goal is to simplify the existing complex procedure and make it affordable for businesses.
“By providing a platform that helps SMEs get an automated and independent snapshot of their business’ tax compliance status, we help prevent future tax exposures and be sure that tax laws and regulations are continually complied with,” Ojo said. “We understand how valuable time is to SME owners, that is why we believe Taxmingo will enable them to focus on running their business while we take care of their monthly and annual tax returns. We know the stress, complexity, and challenges associated with filing tax returns. We want to relieve them of it all.”
