Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has urged Nigerians to ensure they file their annual tax returns, stressing that compliance is mandatory for both employers and individuals.
Oyedele made the call during a webinar organised in partnership with the Joint Revenue Board and targeted at human resource professionals, payroll administrators, chief financial officers, and tax managers.
Speaking during the session, which was later uploaded to YouTube on Friday, January 30, Oyedele said employers are required by law to file annual tax returns for their employees.
“In terms of filing returns, you need to file annual returns as employers for your employees,” he said. “Many of you must have done that already. If you haven’t, you have just a couple of days left to file those returns, including projections of how much you will pay your staff.”
He said individuals are also required to submit self-assessment tax returns, noting that compliance in this category remains very low across the country.
“This is one area where we have been non-compliant in Nigeria,” Oyedele said. “In many states, more than 90 percent, even the most sophisticated states, cannot boast of five percent filing returns.”
According to him, recent tax reforms clarify that employees cannot rely solely on tax deductions made by their employers to meet their legal obligations.
“Many people assume that if they are an employee and the employer has deducted tax, they don’t have to do anything. That is wrong,” he said. “Both under the old and new tax laws, you must still file your returns.”
Oyedele said tax authorities are working to simplify the filing process in order to encourage wider participation.
“I’m sure the tax authorities, the Joint Revenue Board, and various state internal revenue services are working on how to make this process simpler and easier,” he said.
He added that all individuals, including low-income earners, are required to file tax returns by March 31 each year for the previous fiscal year.
Oyedele also said businesses benefiting from tax incentives now have additional disclosure obligations under the updated tax framework.
“Under the new tax law, if you operate a business as an enterprise and you enjoy certain incentives, you have the obligation to disclose those incentives,” he said. “There is a disclosure requirement for tax incentives that must be met when filing returns or shortly after.”