Government identifies 800,000 companies that have never paid taxes

-Nigerian government to ensure high net worth individuals and organizations pay their taxes. 

-The government also reveals plans to track assets and money hidden in overseas accounts.

Nigerian government to go after 800,000 companies that have never paid taxes.

Nigeria’s minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, says her ministry has discovered about 800,000 companies that have never paid tax, though she fell short of revealing the identities of affected companies.

According to her, the finance ministry has also enlisted the help of an international private investigation agency to assist in the tracking of overseas assets.

She said the ministry is compiling a database that combines data from the various arms of government, including bank records, property and company ownership, and customs records.

Adeosun further noted that only 14 million taxpayers out of an economically active database of 70 million people fulfill their tax obligations and the situation is no longer acceptable.

The minister made the points in an article titled, ‘All Change, Nigeria is not an oil economy’.

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“The historical government apathy towards revenue mobilisation is one of the effects of the mistaken identity that saw Nigeria perceive itself as an oil economy. This administration is determined to correct this identity crisis and all its concomitant effects,” she said.

“Over 800,000 companies, including some government contractors, that have never paid taxes have already been identified and are being audited. This is an unprecedented initiative that entails cooperation between the federal and state governments.”

“Taxing the high net-worth and Nigeria’s huge community of entrepreneurs constitutes a critical but yet attainable target,” she said.

“The statistics for corporate tax payment shows the debilitating effects of base erosion and profit-shifting as well as abuse of an overly generous tax incentive and duty waiver system.”