Senate Receives Buhari’s Request To Amend Finance Act

The Senate on Tuesday received an executive bill from President Muhammadu Buhari to amend the Finance Act 2019 recently passed by the National Assembly.

The Act which was passed by the Senate on November 21, 2019, received Presidential assent on January 13, 2020.

The executive bill, accompanied with a formal letter dated March 6, 2020, was read during plenary by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan.

The President in his letter, explained that the request for amendment is aimed at clarifying the administrative date for the increase in Value Added Tax from 5 percent to 7.5 percent, effective from February 1, 2020.

President Buhari also sought the exemption of “Animal Feeds” from taxable food items, so as to create incentives for small businesses involved in livestock, fishing and primary crop production in Nigeria.

The letter reads: “Pursuant to Sections 58 and 59 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), I formally write to request that the Finance Act, 2019 (Amendment) bill, be considered by the Senate 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 percent to 7.5 percent is the 1st of February, 2020.

“That “Animal Feeds” are 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 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.”