LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has said there is a need to leverage on digital technology for seamless tax payment to attract foreign direct investment.
It asserts that the e-payment platform would not only help monitor the flow of transactions, but also help in tackling multiple tax challenges in the country.
This call was made by Chairman of Ikeja District Society of CITN, Mr Abiodun Oke, during his investiture in Lagos, recently.
“We desire to have an environment where they would be able to work and bring funds to the country. Recently, we have been talking about the foreign direct investment; it won’t come if we don’t have a standard tax system,” Oke said.
He added that the country’s laws are old-fashioned and there is need for review and amendment.
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“Look at laws because they would always tell you what is in the law. And so if the law is archaic, it is no longer up-to-date. We need to find a way to bring them on board,” he stated.
The Chairman highlighted that the inclusion of tax professionals in key positions would address major multiple taxation issues.
“So, multiple taxation has always been there but now our professionals in the tax space have been called upon to sanitise it, and I am sure something good would come out in the near future,” he noted.
He further stated that Nigerians don’t pay taxes because the process was not digitised.
“People don’t pay tax here in Nigeria. There are small businesses that do not pay taxes. A businessman can do billions of naira business in a year and would come and pay personal income tax, maybe because the person runs an enterprise and because he is not a limited company.
“But when such personal transactions are captured digitally, the person can be monitored. So the era of digital technology is what we want to leverage,” Oke affirmed.
He added that his administration would look at the welfare of members to improve relationships.
“We have to look at the welfare of our members and see how we can be able to relate to our members almost seamlessly,” he stated.
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According to Oke, to be able to do that, the administration needs to have an e-platform where it can reach its members.
He said leveraging on digitalisation would enable his administration to fulfil the goals designed not only to the members, but also to the elderly ones who had given all they had to the district and the institute.
Also, the President of the CITN, and a member of the Tax Reforms Committee, Mr Samuel Agbeluyi, said the committee was planning to reduce taxes payable in Nigeria to 10 from over 60.
“And I tell you they are taking it step by step and from what we are seeing, away from 62 different taxes we pay in Nigeria, we are looking at reducing it to a maximum of 10,” he declared.