The Chairman of NIA, Mr. Godwin Wiggle, led a delegation from the association on a visit to Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda in Abuja recently to ask for tax waivers in the tax laws perceived to me inimical to their business. Here are some of them;
1. The Company Income Tax Law (CITA) 2007 expects insurance companies to pay 20 per cent of their premium as tax irrespective of expenses or losses incurred. We believe that it is not only punitive, it is also anti-investment” Wiggle said.
2. Section 14(7) of the Act as amended, restricts the number of years over which an insurance company can carry forward its tax losses to four years.
3. Section 14(8) (b) and Section 14(9) (c) of the law dwelt on the basis for calculation of unexpired risk and adopted a different basis for the computation of minimum tax payable by insurance companies. This basis differs significantly from that adopted for other Nigerian companies.
4. Wiggle noted that Section 14(8) (a) of the same law mandated a percentage basis of calculation of reserves for unexpired risks for tax purposes rather than time apportionment which is prescribed in Section 20(1) (a) of the Insurance Act, 2003.
5. Section 14(8) (b) of the tax law restricts other reserves, claims and outgoings for the purpose of computing taxes payable by insurance companies.
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