Revenue drive: FIRS shifts focus to non-resident taxpayers

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) recently said it has identified nonresident taxpayers as very important segment of the tax-paying public, adding that it is for the purposes of devoting to them specialised attention.

A non-resident person refers to a foreign company as defined in the Companies Income Tax Act ( Cap C2, Law of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004 as amended) or an individual (who is resident outside Nigeria and derives income or profit from Nigeria) as defined in the Personal Income Tax Act (Cap P8, LFN 2004 as amended).

Recently, President, Muhammadu Buhari, presented the 2020 Federal Budget proposals to the Joint Session of the National Assembly, being his first budget presentation to the 9th National Assembly. The President, during his presentation stated that the projected Federal Government Revenue for 2020 is N8.15trillion against projected revenue of N7trillion in 2019 budget.

The projected revenue for 2020 is mainly driven by other revenue and non- oil revenue of N3.7tillion and N1.8tillion, up 95.7percent and 30.6percent compared to 2019 estimate respectively. Meanwhile, oil revenue was revised downward to N2.6trillion.

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The devotion of attention to non-resident taxpayers is to enhance tax certainty, promote voluntary compliance, reduce tax disputes and avoid incidence of double taxation,” FIRS said in a recent public notice signed by Tunde Fowler, its Executive Chairman.

In view of the forgoing, the FIRS had notified all non-resident persons operating in Nigeria and the general public that: Non-resident Persons’ Tax Office (NRPTO) which will handle all tax affairs of non-resident persons (individuals or corporate) has been established.

Among others, the FIRS said that as from January 2020, all non-resident persons liable to tax in Nigeria shall submit every return, correspondence or enquiry relating to all the taxes administered by the Service to the Non-resident Persons’ Tax Office. “Tax files of non-resident persons shall henceforth be domiciled at the NRPTO”, the notice reads.

In July 2014, the FIRS directed all nonresident companies ( NRCS) to start preparing and filing their income tax returns based on actual profits basis. The tax authority subsequently issued a public notice in January 2015 to provide some clarity on some of the concerns raised by stakeholders.

Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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.