Oyedele: New Tax Laws Ease Burden on SMEs, Says Misinformation Remains Obstacle to Implementation

• Urges small businesses to formalise to enjoy corporate tax rate at zero per cent, exemption from 4% development levy, others

•Charles Odii: over N12 billion mobilised to offer affordable financing for MSMEs

James Emejo in Abuja

Chairman, Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, said President Bola Tinubu had directed that the federal government should cease to tax poverty, and relieve small businesses of tax burden.

Oyedele disclosed this during the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency of Nigeria ( SMEDAN) town hall meeting with Artisans and traders in Abuja.

He encouraged small businesses to register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to enjoy corporate tax rate at zero per cent, and also be exempted from paying 4 per cent development levy.

He said the President had ordered that all should be done to ensure small, medium and nano businesses thrived instead of killing the businesses with different taxes.

He said, “You cannot build a society where you don’t allow businesses to breathe. The secret succession for any society is when we allow this 35 million, big, nano micro and small medium businesses to grow. When you impact MSMEs positively that is Nigeria itself.

“As a result of this, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu said we should stop tasking poverty, capital and seed, we should wait, invest with the people so that the seed will turn into fruits.

“Majority of the businesses are nano, our prayer for them is they should make more than one billion in a year.

“There has been a lot of misinformation, for a reform where small businesses should be excited people are now afraid because of the misinformation.”

He said under the current tax reform all the categorisation apart from millions will be exempted from corporate income tax.

This, he said, was part of the CAC SMEDAN partnership where the corporate Affairs is registering small businesses for free.

Oyedele said, “With this free registration the Corporate Affairs Commission is receiving 5,000 applications every day.

“This is one of the deliberate policies by the government to encourage businesses to formalise.

“Under this new reform tax law, employees are completely exempted from all forms of taxes.”

He said, “For big companies, there is a provision to reduce their corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent. There are companies doing more one billion a year, there is also a lot for them. If you pay VAT on products to do with your business, vehicles, mobile phones including airtime that is used for business can be claimed back.

This is not for small businesses but you can claim all these back with the receipts.”

In his remarks, Director General of SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii, said over N12 billion had been mobilised in affordable financing for MSMEs through strategic partnerships with public and private sector institutions, thereby improving access to capital nationwide.

He said this is in addition to Tinubu’s initial N50 billion for nano businesses, N75 billion for the SMEs, and N75 billion for manufacturers.