Muhammad Nami is the head of Nigeria’s tax agency FIRS
Millions of Nigerians who work as market traders of informal business owners are to be targeted for Value Added Tax (VAT) payments, the authorities have announced.
As many as 40 million people fall into this category, according to Nigeria’s federal tax agency and the Market Traders Association (Matan), which both say they want to widen the country’s tax net.
Under the plans, market traders are to be issued a digital ID with a unique tax identification number – or “TIN” – which tracks their turnover and remittances to Nigeria’s federal revenue service.
The body says just over 10% of Nigeria’s government revenue is generated from taxes, one of the world’s lowest proportions. Most of the revenue is generated from crude oil sales.
In the last 30 days, Africa’s largest economy has embarked on a series of economic and fiscal reforms, which President Bola Tinubu’s new administration hopes can steer the country out of its current economic crisis marred by soaring inflation, a high cost of living and dwindling government revenues.