Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed said after the Federal Executive Council meeting, led by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday, that the Federal Government had ratified the Finance Bill 2021/2022 fiscal year.
The minister said the bill will focus on tax, also reviewing and amending 11 fiscal laws, explaining that instead of proposing new taxes or increasing tax rates, the finance Finance Bill for the 2022 fiscal year focused on addressing loopholes and improving tax administration.
“This draft bill was prepared by the Fiscal Policy Committee and it’s focused on tax and reviewing some fiscal laws and also amending some and these laws, about 11 in number, that have been affected,” she said.
“The purpose for us is to be able to refine our fiscal laws to improve tax compliance and also to enhance revenue generation.
Ms Ahmed also added that no changes were introduced to the bill regarding VAT, meaning that the Federal Government would retain 7.5 per cent as the VAT rate.
“Again, to emphasise also that we shied away from addressing any changes to the VAT regime or the current Stamp Duty regime because of the current ongoing litigations by some states in those two areas,” Ms Ahmed said.
She further elaborated that the bill help the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) collect Companies Income Tax (CIT) from foreign digital companies.
