How elections in Nigeria, the digital economy will impact tax in 2019

Nigeria's general election may be one of the major influence of tax collection in the West Africa nation in 2019, according to an analyst.

This is coming as the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, broke the Nigeria's tax collection history with a total collection of N5.32 trillion at the end of 2018. The agency is also targeting N8 trillion for 2019.

Taiwo Oyedele, Head of Tax and Regulatory Services at PwC Nigeria, made this known in a blog post on the review of the tax environment in 2018 and expectations for 2019.

Oyedele, who is also a tax leader for PwC West Africa, revealed that the 2019 elections will impact the tax system “in terms of tax policy implementation and overall fiscal reform”.

Other activities to impact the tax system in 2019 include digital economy and the recent tax reforms in the US.

“The chances of the PIB being enacted into law is also very slim. The Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularisation Scheme will record a marginal success and tax authorities at all levels will continue with their aggressive measures to enforce tax compliance.

“One should expect a lot of activities in the tax dispute resolution space as a result of the aggressive approach by the authorities. Globally, the impact of the tariff trade war initiated by the Trump administration will be felt worldwide as major economies suffer slower economic growth while the race to average corporate income tax rates will intensify following the recent tax reforms in the US," he said.

Oyedele also noted that efforts by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to fight tax avoidance will continue but with strong defence from the digital economy sector unless countries take measures to address this.