Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has called on Nigerians—both employers and individuals—to comply with the legal requirement of filing annual tax returns, warning that compliance levels across the country remain alarmingly low.
Oyedele made the call during a webinar held for HR managers, payroll officers, CFOs and tax managers, organised in collaboration with the Joint Revenue Board and shared on YouTube on Friday.
Addressing employers, he stressed the urgency of filing annual returns for employees, including projected staff emoluments.
“In terms of filing returns, you need to file annual returns as employers for your employees. 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.
He also underscored the obligation of individual taxpayers to file self-assessment returns, noting that this is one of the weakest areas of tax compliance in Nigeria.
“This is one area where we have been non-compliant in Nigeria. In many states, more than 90%—even the most sophisticated states—cannot boast of 5% filing returns,” Oyedele stated.
According to him, employees often mistakenly believe their tax responsibilities end once taxes are deducted at source by their employers.
He dismissed this notion, saying, “Many people assume that if they are an employee and the employer has deducted pay, they don’t have to do anything. That is wrong. Both under the old and new tax laws, you must still file your returns.”
Oyedele assured taxpayers that efforts are underway to simplify the filing process across states.
“I’m sure the tax authorities, joint revenue boards, and various state internal revenue services are working on how to make this process simpler and easier. All of us must file our returns, including those earning low income. You must file returns by 31st March of the year in respect of the previous fiscal year,” he added.
He further disclosed that under the new tax regime, businesses benefitting from tax incentives are now mandated to declare such benefits when filing returns.
“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,” Oyedele said, adding that this disclosure must be made during or shortly after filing tax returns.
