President Muhammadu Buhari signing a document

10 things you need to know about the new Finance Bill

President Muhammodu Buhari on Monday signed into law Finance Bill 2019. The president made this known to Nigerians via his Twitter handle @MBuhari. “I am pleased to announce that this morning I signed into Law the Finance Bill, 2019…

The following are some key points you need to know about the bill

1. The bill was submitted to a joint session of the National Assembly October. 8th along with the 2020 Budget presentation by the president.

2. The Bill’s primary purpose is to make money available for the implementation of the 2020 Budget.

3. Although since the country’s return to democracy in 1999 no such Bill’s have been used, the practice is not entirely strange, as past military leaders from time to time used it to amend laws.

4. The Bill aims at curing the deficiencies of major primary tax legislation by amending obsolete and contentious provisions.

5. It emanated from the initiatives suggested by the President Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee.

6. It seeks to promote fiscal equity and align domestic laws with global best practices.

7. It Incentivize investments in infrastructure and capital markets; and raise Government revenues.

8. It increases VAT to 7.5% from 5%

9. The 2020 Budget presentation was the first time, since the return of democracy in 1999, that a Federal Budget was accompanied by passage of a Finance Bill specially designed to support its implementation, and to create a truly enabling environment for business and investment by the private sector.

10. It’s implementation takes immediate effect.