Senate Moves Tax Reform Bills to Second Reading

The Senate moved forward with four tax reform bills proposed by the federal government, giving them a second reading. Senate Leader Senator Opeyemi Bamidele presented these bills during a session.

These bills aim to make big changes to Nigeria’s tax system. They include setting up the Joint Revenue Board, the Tax Appeal Tribunal, and the Office of the Tax Ombudsman to manage tax issues and disputes more efficiently. Another bill proposes to create the Nigeria Revenue Service, replacing the existing Federal Inland Revenue Service, to handle the assessment, collection, and accounting of government revenue.

Other proposals include laws to unify the process of assessing, collecting, and managing government revenue across all levels federal, state, and local. They also aim to combine all tax laws into a single Nigeria Tax Act, which would cover the taxation of incomes, transactions, and other financial activities.

After discussing these bills, Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio asked the Senate Committee on Finance to look into these bills further and report back in six weeks.