President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the House of Representatives to seek amendments to the Finance Act recently passed by the National Assembly.
The letter was read by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila during plenary on Tuesday. In the letter, the President stated that the Act was amended so as to indicate that the new law took effect from February 1, 2020.
Another amendment the President wants is for the Act to indicate that the annual fees payable on basic good items are different from Valued Added Tax.
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More details: Included in Buhari’s letter titled, “Transmission of the Finance Act, 2019 (Amendment) Bill for consideration and passage into law” was also the call for Animal feeds to be listed among basic food items exempted from the Value Added Tax.
The letter read in part: “Pursuant to Sections 58 and 59 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I formally request that the Finance Act, 2019 (Amendment) Bill, be considered by the House of Representatives for passage into law.
“This Bill seeks to amend the Finance Act, 2019, as recently passed by the National Assembly, by clarifying. That the administrative effective date for the increase in Value Added Tax from 5% to 7.5% is the 1st of February 2020.
“That ‘Animal Feeds’ is included in the list of Basic Food items that are exempt from Value Added Tax; and Aspects of the tax holiday incentive for agriculture, by targeting this incentive to small and medium-sized companies that invest in a primary crop, livestock, forestry, and fishing agricultural production.
“This incentive is also to be administered by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission pursuant to the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act. While I trust that this Bill will be favourably considered for passage into law by the National Assembly, so as to support the implementation of the 2020 Federal Budget.”
