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Following the pressure on revenue agencies to improve revenue, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has set up a new tax office called ‘Non-Resident Persons Tax Office (NRPTO)” established solely to handle the personal income tax of all non-resident persons that are liable to tax in Nigeria .
This new development which aims at bringing more people into the tax net derives its power from the Companies Income Tax Act (Cap C2, LFN 2004 as amended), according to the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Tunde Fowler who in a public notice said the office will cater for an individual (who is resident outside Nigeria but derives income or profit from Nigeria) as defined in the Personal Income Tax Act (Cap P8, LFN 2004as amended).
“As from 1st 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; and Tax files of non-resident persons shall thenceforth be domiciled at the NRPTO”, the notice said.
The notice clarifies a non-resident could be a person or a company that derives income or profit from Nigeria.
Fowler said that the office was created by FIRS having identified Non-resident taxpayers as very important segment of the tax-paying public, noting that they needed specialised attention.
Such special attention, according to Fowler “is to enhance tax certainty, promote voluntary compliance, reduce tax disputes and avoid incidence of double taxation.
“In view of the foregoing, the FIRS hereby notify 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;
NRPTO is located within the International Tax Department of the FIRS Building in its Ikoyi office in Lagos while enquiries for further clarification are to be directed to Fowler’s office at the Abuja head office of the Service.
Such non-resident taxpayers are also free to contact the Director, International Tax Department for enquiries on all tax treaty operational issues, cross-border transactions, inter-company transactions and income derived by non-resident individuals.in Nigeria.
These could be one of the measures to bolster revenues following the dwindling receipts from Value Added Tax and Corporate tax owing to lower activities in certain economic sector.
The 2020 budget is predicated on N8,155 trillion aggregate revenue of which oil revenue is expected to be N2.640 trillion and Non- revenue to bring the balance of N5.510 trillion.
BADEJO ADEMUYIWA has 23 years experience as a Finance Writer, specialising in Insurance and Investigative Reporting.
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