Isola Moses

Alhaji Idris Ahmed, the Accountant-General of the Federation, has said the formal implementation of 7.5 percent VAT rate commenced in the week beginning Monday, January 13.

Speaking with Finance reporters in Abuja, FCT, Alhaji Ahmed explained that he got payment of the tax based on old rate of five per cent, but he rejected it.

President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2019 Finance Bill Monday, the development climaxed with the commencement of a new regime of taxes, rates and tariffs for 2020 fiscal year.

Nigerian Tribune also reports that from Tuesday, January 14, Nigerian companies making annual turnover of N25million will no longer pay company income tax (CIT).

A lower CIT rate of 20 per cent applies to medium-sized companies with a turnover between N25m and N100m.

A bonus of 2 per cent of tax payable will be granted to medium-sized companies while large companies will get one per cent bonus for early payment of CIT.

Ahmed disclosed that there was delay in the full take-off of the Open Government Treasury Transparency Portal across Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) because of closure of government accounts by end of 2019.

Other reasons for the delay include the need to train account officers of MDAs to understand what is required of them, and know how to upload information on the portal, public sensitisation on the new initiative, and receipt and processing of data from MDAs.

Buhari launched the online portal last year to open government financial activities to public scrutiny in terms of revenue and expenditure of MDAs.

With the portal, the AGF is mandated to publish daily, treasury statement which will provide information about what came into the national purse and what went out every single day.