The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has called on Nigerians to comply with the law by filing their annual tax returns before the March 31 deadline.
Oyedele made the appeal during a webinar organised for human resource managers, payroll officers, chief financial officers, and tax administrators, held in partnership with the Joint Revenue Board and shared on YouTube.
According to the tax expert, many Nigerians — both employers and individual taxpayers — have not been fulfilling their filing obligations, particularly for self-assessment returns.
He emphasised that employers are legally required to submit annual returns on behalf of their employees, including projections of salary payments, noting that only a few have done so so far.
“Many people assume that if they are an employee and the employer has already deducted taxes from their salary, they do not need to take further action. That is incorrect,” Oyedele said, stressing that both the old and new tax laws require all taxpayers to file their returns.
He warned that compliance remains low in many states, with some recording less than 5 % of individual taxpayers filing returns.
Oyedele also highlighted that the government and revenue agencies are working to simplify the tax filing process to encourage greater compliance across the country.
Under the new tax framework, businesses that enjoy tax incentives are now also obliged to disclose those incentives when submitting their annual returns.