Construction Industry Urges FG On Tax Reduction

The Federal Government has been called upon to reduce the tax on construction industry from five per cent to two and a half per cent.
President of the Federation of Construction Industry, Solomon Okebusola, made the call in Abuja recently at the 57th Annual General Meeting of Federation of Construction Industry.
According to him, the five per cent for withholding tax is too high and it is affecting the running of business in the industry.
Okebusola said stakeholders also had a major challenge affecting the construction industry as billions of naira were trapped at the Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS).
“Various sums, ranging from N5 billion to N15 billion, were being owed to various construction companies as refunds from withholding tax.
“We have up to N15 billion owed by the FIRS to some of our members.
“The stakeholders’ problem was rather that when the time for tax refund came, the chairman of FIRS would say he had no power to make such refund and would refer them to the minister of finance.
“They were also informed that the tax-collecting agency was allocated only N5 billion for refunds, which was responsible for the huge default,’’ Okebusola said.
However, the Deputy Director, Tax Policy, at FIRS, Mr Matthew Gbonjubola, gave the assurance that the issue would be addressed.
“We are reviewing our withholding tax system to make sure that it will allow all tax payers to be able to utilise their withholding tax credits when they are supposed to utilise them,” he said.
He said that the current tax regime now being criticised was the making of the law and not that of the FIRS, saying that the law must be amended first before the required changes could be effected.
“All arms of government are working on it and very soon we will come out with a new tax regime,” he pledged.