A member of the Joint Tax Board (JTB), Mr Chukwuemeka Eze, said on Thursday that the legalisation of the Presumptive Tax Regulation (PTR) would improve the profit margin of the informal sector.
Eze told newsmen that the PTR document was currently awaiting the assent of Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, adding that tax administration in Nigeria was bound to improve.
He said in Lagos that the PTR was a new tax regime geared toward invigorating the business interests of operators in the informal sector.
“The PTR will determine the taxes to be paid by those in the informal sector of the economy, especially those whose incomes are not more than N6 million per annum.
“The document provides guidelines on what and how taxes are to be paid, as well as, penalties for any defaulter,” he said.
Eze, however, expressed the confidence that the proposed tax regime would be signed before the end of 2013.
He said:“By my reckoning, I think the minister will not like to see the document on her table beyond this year. She will definitely sign it.”
It would be recalled that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the JTB had on April 4 proposed to legalise a new tax administration regime for the informal sector.
The proposal was aimed at improving the collection and payment of taxes by operators in the informal sector.
The PTR would be predicated on a taxpayer’s presumed income.
The Acting Chairman of the FIRS, Alhaji Kabir Mashi, had said in April that the initiative was aimed at improving revenue collection in the country.
He had also said that PTR would help to reduce tax avoidance, as well as equalising the distribution of the burden of taxation.
“This new tax regime will assist to fight tax evasion,“ Mashi had said.