The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo yesterday signed the 4th Executive Order (EO) on Tax Amnesty during the flag off of a time bound Volunteering Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) to encourage tax payers regularize their taxes during the new tax regime in the country.
Osinbajo equally declared every Thursday, "Tax Thursday" to sensitize tax offenders and the general public on the need to maintain an excellent tax payment culture. According to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, "Nigeria is not broke, but poor due to inconsistent tax payment culture by citizens".
In line with the declaration, VAIDS launched a campaign on "10 Takeaways" ahead of July 1st, 2017 commencement date to inform Nigerians on all the need to know about the scheme. These include;
1. VAIDs will last from July 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018.
2. VAIDS is supported by an Executive Order that was signed into law by the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on 29 June, 2017.
3. For the last 15 months, a high-level team worked with the Federal Ministry of Finance on Project Lighthouse, for gathering tax information from a wide range of sources.
4. Nigeria has a total of 69.9 million economically-active individuals, but only 14 million of such people are tax payers.
5. Only 214 Nigerians pay N20,000,000 or more in taxes annually. All of them are based in Lagos State.
6. Under the N-Power scheme 7,500 CTLOs will be trained to educate and sensitize citizens on tax.
7. The Federal Government has declared every Thursday from June 29, 2017, #TaxThursday.
8. Nigeria is now party to the new global standard on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI).
9. Upon the expiration of VAIDS, the Federal Government will commence criminal prosecution of tax evaders.
10. For more information, visit www.vaids.gov.ng
As part of sustainability expectations, Osinbajo encouraged State governors to support the scheme, as the Nation GDP growth depends on the new tax regime initiated through the Scheme.
