Nigeria 3rd worst globally in tax payment compliance

by _ Iheanyi Nwachukwu

 An interactive table that shows the ‘ease of paying taxes’ ranking and the three sub-indicators results for 189 economies, clearly reveals Nigeria as third most laggard country when it come to the time it takes tax payers to comply.

Tagged ‘the changing face of tax compliance in 189 economies worldwide’ Paying Taxes 2015 measures the ease of paying taxes across these economies by assessing the time required for a case study company to: prepare, file and pay its taxes, the number of taxes that it has to pay, the method of that payment and the total tax liability as a percentage of its commercial profits.

Interestingly, it takes the Nigerian taxpayer an average of 908 hours to comply, followed by Bolivia about 1,025 hours, and the worst being Brazil- about 2,600 hours. Out of the 189 economies, Nigeria –Africa’s largest economy by GDP size, ranks low at 179 with total tax rate at 32.7 percent.

Nigeria ranks below other major Africa countries. For instance, South Africa ranks 19 with 28.8 percent total tax rate, and compliance hours of 200. Ghana ranks 101, with 33.3 percent in total tax rate, and 224 hours compliance time. Kenya ranks 102 with 202 hours in compliance time. The country’s total tax rate is 38 percent. Angola ranks 144 with 282 compliance hours and 52percent in total tax rate.

These indicators evidently signal challenges ahead for the Babatunde Fowler-led Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in meeting the federal government mandate of shoring-up tax revenue and improving on the country’s tax administration.

The new change of leadership at FIRS is predicated on the resolve of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure maximum increase in tax revenue as the era of absolute dependency on oil proceeds seems over, with over 60 percent decline in oil price.

Nigeria’s total tax revenue collection (oil and non-oil) for second quarter to June 2015 was N1.188trillion as against 2014 government quarterly target of N1.021trillion.

At N306.141billion, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) contributed 25.77 percent of to the total collection; while at N881.98billion, non-oil taxes accounted for 74.23percent of the total tax revenue collection as at half year to June 30.

‘Paying Taxes’ records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay in a given year, as well as measuring the administrative burden of paying taxes and contributions.

Taxes and contributions measured include corporate income and other profit taxes, social contributions and labour taxes paid by the employer, property taxes, property transfer taxes, dividend tax, capital gains tax, financial transactions tax, waste collection taxes, vehicle and road taxes, and any other small taxes or fees.

On the positives, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ranks best with total tax rate of 14.8 percent, while in that country it takes just 12 hours for tax payers to comply; Qatar is almost at par with UAE in terms of ease of paying tax ranking, but its tax rate is 11.3 percent and it takes tax payers in that country 41 hours to comply.

These indicators illustrate both successful tax reforms and reform challenges, as well as provide a platform for government and business to engage in constructive discussion around tax reform across a broader range of issues.