The Federal Government has reiterated that all individuals and employers in Nigeria are legally required to file their annual tax returns by March 31, warning that compliance remains low across the country.
The reminder was issued by Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, during a webinar organised in collaboration with the Joint Revenue Board.
The webinar, which was targeted at human resource professionals, payroll administrators, chief financial officers, and tax managers, was later uploaded to YouTube on Friday, January 30.
Speaking during the session, Oyedele stressed that employers are obligated to file annual tax returns on behalf of their employees, including projections of staff remuneration.
“In terms of filing returns, you need to file annual returns as employers for your employees. Many of you must have done that already,” he said.
“If you haven’t, you have just a couple of days left to file those returns, including projections of how much you will pay your staff.”
Oyedele also noted that individual taxpayers are required to submit self-assessment tax returns, lamenting what he described as widespread non-compliance nationwide.
“This is one area where we have been non-compliant in Nigeria. In many states, more than 90 per cent — even the most sophisticated states — cannot boast of up to 5 per cent compliance in filing returns,” he said.
He further clarified that employees cannot rely solely on Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) deductions made by their employers to meet their statutory tax obligations.
“Many people assume that if they are an employee and the employer has deducted tax, they don’t have to do anything. That is wrong,” Oyedele said. “Both under the old and new tax laws, you must still file your returns.”
The committee chairman assured Nigerians that efforts are ongoing to simplify the tax filing process and improve voluntary compliance.
“I’m sure the tax authorities, the Joint Revenue Board, and various state internal revenue services are working on how to make this process simpler and easier,” he said.
According to him, all taxpayers, including low-income earners, are required to file their returns by March 31 of each year, covering the previous fiscal year.
Oyedele also disclosed that companies benefiting from tax incentives now have additional disclosure obligations under the updated tax framework.
“Under the new tax law, enterprises enjoying certain incentives are required to disclose those incentives when filing their tax returns or shortly after,” he added.