House Of Reps Passes Finance Bill

The House of Representatives has passed the 2019 finance bill.

This comes one week after the Senate approved the piece of legislature sent by the executive.

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had told a gathering at financial analysis firm, PWC, on Wednesday that the provisions of the bill will come into effect on January 2, 2020.

The intent of the bill is to overhaul the country’s tax provisions and raise more revenue for the government.

The acts that would be affected by the new law include the Companies Income Tax Act, Value Added Tax Act, Petroleum Profits Tax Act, Personal Income Tax Act, Capital Gains Tax Act, Customs and Excise Tariff Etc. (Consolidation) Act and Stamp Duties Act.

The next step will be for a harmonised version of the clauses passed by both houses to be sent to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigerians have so far been reacting to the Stamp Duty act and the VAT act.

Reports emerged in September that the government planned to increase VAT from its present rate of five per cent to 7.2 per cent.

The government soon clarified its stance, saying it had heightened the rate to 7.5 per cent.

This was followed by the Central Bank of Nigeria issuing a circular directing all merchants to unbundle stamp duties and pay N50 per every transaction worth N1,000.

According to reports, the Senate’s version of the finance bill proposes that the lowest unit on which stamp duty should be charge be increased to N10,000.