Daily Law Tips (Tip 396) by Onyekachi Umah, Esq., LLM. ACIArb(UK)
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*BUSINESS NAMES IN NIGERIA CANNOT PAY PERSONAL INCOME TAX. *
Business Names are mere registered trading names for business and their owners. Companies corporate beings and different from business Names. Companies are different from their owners and pay Company Income Tax to federal government.
Hence, on issues of Personal Income Tax, business names and their owners are also treated as one and single individual.
So, the personal income tax paid by an owner of business name covers his business name. So, a single Tax Clearance Certificate will cover a business name and the owner of such business name.
In practise, some tax office out of ignorance or fraud, demand personal income tax from businesses. It is illegal, no Buiness in Nigeria is authorised to pay personal income tax, including business Names, Companies, Partnerships and Associations.
Well, in the midst of glowing ignorance in Nigeria and to avoid harassment, you can demand for both the name of the business name and that of the owner of such business name to be clearly stated as the recipients/holders of such single tax clearance certificate.
In summary, Business Names and even Companies are exempted from personal income tax because the personal income tax of the owner of a business name covers the business name. Say NO to double taxation.
My authorities are:
1. 1. Sections 18, 19, 37, 38, 573, 610 and 613 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990
2. My authorities are sections 1, 2, 3, 7, 108 and 109 of the Personal Income Tax Act 1993.
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Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe Esq., ACIarb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director at the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria.
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