Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee on the country’s Tax Laws Reform just as about N1.6billion was also approved for the procurement of 68 new Ford pick up operational vehicles for Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

This was disclosed Wednesday in Abuja by the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who briefed the State House Correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting alongside the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, as well as the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

According to her, the new policies will, among others, entail VAT exemption for life insurance, public transportation, residential buildings, etc; while taxes on SMEs will now be reduced from 20 to 15 per cent.

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She added: “The proposed tax laws reform by the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee(NTPIC) is expected to achieve the following specific fiscal objectives: remove obsolete, ambiguous and contradictory provisions in the laws, increase government revenue, simplify the process of paying taxes and doing business, promote Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and protect most vulnerable persons in the society.

“The NTPIC has produced two executive orders and five amendment bills.
The two proposed executive orders are  Value Added Tax (VAT) Act (modification) Order; Review of Goods Liable to Excise Duties and Applicable Rate Order.

The five proposed amendment bills are Companies Income Tax Act (Amendment) Bill; Value Added Tax Act (Amendment) Bill; Customs, Excise, Tariff ETC (Consolidation) Act (Amendment) Bill; Personal Income Tax Act (Amendment) Bill and Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act (Amendment) Bill.”

Adeosun recalled that the Federal Executive Council had on February last year approved the revised National Tax Policy in order to have a robust tax system that would promote investment and improve revenue for sustainable national development.