FG Plans Special Tax for SMEs

• FG Plans Special Tax for SMEs

The Federal Government is in the process of designing a special tax for Small and Medium-scale Enterprises in the country as a way of ameliorating the challenges of multiple taxation being faced by operators in the sector.

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, who disclosed this in Lagos on Sunday during the maiden edition of the Simply Nigerian Fair, said the government intended to leverage on technology to put in place a system of taxation that would target the SME sector.

“The best solution to the taxation challenges of SMEs would be to leverage on technology. Once you are able to use technology and SME-based tax, it will be shared appropriately and will reduce the hassles of multiple taxation where different people come to require taxes of them. We are working on it but we do not expect it to take effect before mid-2017, because we have to invest in the technology,” she said.

The minister, who expressed satisfaction with the creativity of the exhibitors, noted that most of the products on display were exportable.

Abubakar said, “I am impressed by the creativity displayed by these young entrepreneurs. Most of their products can be exported. I have encouraged them to work closely with the government. I have also introduced them to the She Trade, which is under the International Trade Centre for women-owned indigenous businesses.

“We also have the Nigerian Export Promotion Council’s training programme for exporters as well as the African Growth Opportunities Act, which ends in 2025. These are all opportunities opened for our young entrepreneurs to export these fantastic products to the outside world.”

One of the organisers of the fair, Mrs. Temi Shenjobi, said the aim was to bring operators in the SME sector together for the purpose of networking and getting them to patronise one another.

“It is also to expose them to the market since as small business operators, they may not have the resources to showcase their products to the larger public.”