FIRS establishes tax office for non-resident tax payers

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said that from January 1, 2020, all non-resident persons liable to tax in Nigeria shall submit every return, correspondence or enquiry relating to all the taxes  administered by the service to the newly established tax office for the administration of taxes of Non-Resident Persons called Non-Resident Persons Tax Office (NRPTO).

The service also said tax files of non-resident persons should be domiciled at the NRPTO.

These were contained in a public notice signed by the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr Babatunde Fowler, a statement by the Head, Communications and Servicom Department of the service, Wahab Gbadamosi, said.

The notice said the designated NRPTO will deal with non-resident persons which refers to a foreign company as defined in the Companies  Income Tax Act (Cap C2, LFN 2004 as amended) or an individual (who is resident outside Nigeria and derives income or profit from Nigeria) as defined in the Personal Income Tax Act (Cap P8, LFN 2004 as amended).

The notice also said that FIRS has identified non-resident taxpayers as a very important segment of the tax-paying public for the purposes of devoting to them specialised attention.

Fowler said the attention to this segment of taxpayers “is to enhance tax certainty, promote voluntary compliance, reduce tax disputes and avoid incidence of double taxation.