Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that the 36 states in the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) earned N2.33 Trillion from Pay As You Earn (PAYE) in three years 2018 to 202o.
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is a form of personal income tax that is deducted directly from the wages and salaries of employees operating in the formal sector. Employers in Nigeria are responsible for directly deducting Pay as you earn taxes from their employees’ earnings.
Unsurprisingly, Lagos state earned the highest from Pay as you earn tax collected with N788.29 Billion collected in the period under review. Rivers State with N255.34 Billion was a close second, the Federal Capital Territory with N210.08 Billion collected was third with N210.08 Billion collected. Jigawa State with N11.74 Billion, Taraba State with N10.66 Billion, and Gombe State with N9.23 Billion made the least from PAYE during the period.
The South-West earned N1.0 Trillion from PAYE in the three years, therefore making it the region with the highest PAYE earnings, The South-South meanwhile came second with N555.14 Billion earned from PAYE during the period. The North-Central earned N366.71 from PAYE, making it the region with the third-highest PAYE earnings. The North-West earned N172.95 Billion making it the region with the fourth-highest PAYE earnings. Rounding up the list at fifth and sixth were the South-East at N134.53 Billion earned and the North-East at N96.54 Billion earned.
Personal Income Tax in Nigeria is guided by the amended Personal Income Tax Act Cap P8 LFN 2004, and is imposed on the income of individuals, corporate sole or body of individuals, families, communities and trustees or executors of any settlement. The tax ranges from seven per cent to twenty-four per cent depending on the amount of chargeable income and the due date for the remittance of PAYE is the 10th day of every new month.