FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji said all grey areas in the tax reform bills have been resolved, with no further meetings required.
The senate has signaled progress on the tax reform bills, with public hearings set to be held soon, paving the way for their passage at third reading.
Chairman of the senate ad-hoc committee on tax reforms, Sen. Abba Moro (PDP, Benue south) confirmed this on Monday while speaking to journalists after a two-hour closed-door session with key government officials, including the Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), FIRS Chairman Zacch Adedeji, Chairman of Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele and Chairman of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Dr Mohammed Bello Shehu.
Recall that the ad-hoc committee was set up by the senate in December last year for required interface with the federal government on grey areas in some of the provisions of the proposed tax reform.
Also recall that the bills, including the Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill (NTAB) 2024, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill (NRSEB) 2024 and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill (JRBEB) 2024 were passed for second reading on November 28, 2024.
Moro revealed that agreements have been reached on contentious provisions, ensuring the laws will serve all Nigerians. “We just had a meeting and interface with the officials of government, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Chairman of RMAFC, FIRS Chairman, and in the process of evaluating the contending tendencies regarding the tax bills.
“We have agreed amongst ourselves that we must synthesize the whole process to ensure that at the end of the day we give to Nigerians what Nigerians want and that is a law that serves the purpose of all Nigerians.
“So that is where we are now and hopefully by the time we meet again we will finalize and we will have some better story to tell you,” he said.
READ ALSO: Tax reform bills scale second reading in senate
FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji added that all grey areas have been resolved, with no further meetings required.
He said, “All those things you call grey area were discussed, identified and then as you said that the advisory so the judgment is not to be made, it’s just for us to continue the engagement, the consultation which based on your observation, has been positive.
“So we are in the right direction and everything is going as planned. There won’t be any other further meeting because all issues were identified, all the issues were clarified and then resolutions were made.
“To the best of my knowledge, everybody there agreed that Nigeria needs the laws as proposed.
“So what has happened today is that you see the framework of the law, you see the attorney general, you see the lawmakers and all of us the operators and everything went well,” he stated.
STAR Check: Nigerians, particularly, constituents of Benue South district, can keep tabs on the legislative performance of Sen. Moro throughout the 10th senate here.
