A Professional Accountant, Mr Banatunde Fadoju, has urged accounting and financial professionals to tap into the wide opportunities provided by the new tax reform which was designed to benefit Nigerians.
Fadoju made the call on weekend at a webinar lecture organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Sokoto.and District Society.
The Newsmen reports that three topics discussed in lecture include; ” Smart Tax Planning for SMES and Salary Earners Under the New Tax Regime,” ” Lunch Your Tax Advisory Practice:A Guide for Finance Professionals.”
Other topic was ” The Fine Line: Ethical Tax Avoidance Vs Illegal Tax Eversion, An Expert Perspectives on the New Act.”
Fadoju stressed that the new tax law provided ample opportunities for tax professionals and urged them the improved themselves with requisite and suitable potentialities in order to be relevant in the system.
He counselled professionals to register and obtain requisite practicing license from lawful authorities and professional bodies, ensure credibility, confidentiality and trustworthiness in all transactions.
He cautioned them against sharp practices as well as all forms of malpractices in order to succeed in the new regime.
Fadoju urged the tax professionals to build of reputable relationships with revenue collection agencies and other ensure that they were up-to-date and link with platforms.
Also speaking, a Tax Consultant, Mr Tomi Akinwale, dwelled on the lawful provisions and payables tax denominations with incentives and punishable windows.
Akinwale said the new tax regime would benefit downtrodden than impoverish them stressing that incomes and value added tax were carefully considered through formulating the guidelines.
He explained that there were numerous incentives that were embedded in the tax reform; what is just needed is for Nigerians to give it a chance, which is by performing their own obligation.
“This obligation is that being exempted from tax is not an exemption from having a tax identification; it is the tax ID that will enable you to migrate when you leave that threshold, ” he said.
According to him, multiple taxation has discouraged many investors, a situation he described as bad for the nation’s economy.
The District Chairman, Alhaji Ganiyu Mustapha, called for increased awareness for citizens to fully understand the benefits and enjoined the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to redouble efforts on public awareness.
Mustapha said most Nigerians have poor belief on the accountability and prudence of the accrued generations on the nex policies.
He further dwelled on the categorisation and conservation on low income earners and urged professionals to leverage on technological initiatives que in the opportunity.
The Chairman appealed to authorities to reinvigorated social commitment and ensure result impacts implementation practices in order to ensure more acceptability.
He said the fear of the new tax law was unfounded because the new reform would solve the problems of medium and small-scale business owners.
According to him, a small company that is operating up to 100 million turnover or 250 million assets, you will be exempted from payment of tax.
He reiterated that the association would continue its advocacy role through the district societies and different bodies under the institute.
He assured that the organisation would further collaborate with state and business people on sensitisation drives.
” The district played a significant role in shaping the landscape of taxation in our domain by advocating for tax awareness and tax education at all levels,” he said.
Newsmen reports that about 200 people participated on the webnair with questions on implementation strategies, registration modalities and overall benefits of the new policy.
A cross section of participants expressed fear that Nigerians would encountered more difficulties when the new tax regime commences.
Many participants urged government to consider more awareness on the tax benefits and prudence modalities of spending the proceeds toward improving the living of of citizens.
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