Tinubu suspends 5% telecoms tax, import tax on vehicles, others

President Bola Tinubu has signed four executive orders, including the suspension of the 5% excise tax on telecommunication services, as well as the excise duties escalation on locally manufactured products.

In a statement released on Thursday by Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, said that Tinubu also ordered the suspension of the Import Tax Adjustment levy on certain vehicles.

The statement noted that Tinubu issued these orders to alleviate the negative impacts of the tax adjustments on businesses and chokehold on households across affected sectors.

“His Excellency will not exacerbate the plight of Nigerians,” he said.

The statement noted that the Tinubu Administration has since noticed that some of the tax policies are being implemented retroactively with their commencement dates, in some instances, pre-dating the official publication of the relevant legal instruments backing the policies.

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This lacuna has created some challenges in implementation, Mr. Alake said.

“Indeed, the intentions behind upward adjustments of some of these taxes are quite noble. They were designed to raise revenue as well as address environmental and health issues of concern.

“However, they have generated some significant challenges for, and elicited serious complaints amongst key stakeholders as well as in the business community,” the statement said.

Based on the new executive orders, the Finance Act (Effective Date Variation) Order, 2023, has now deferred the commencement date of the changes contained in the Act from May 23, 2023, to September 1, 2023. This is to ensure adherence to the 90 days minimum advance notice for tax changes as contained in the 2017 National Tax Policy, the statement said.

Similarly, the president signed the Customs, Excise Tariff (Variation) Amendment Order, 2023.

“This has also shifted the commencement date of the tax changes from March 27, 2023, to August 1, 2023 and also in line with the National Tax Policy,” it said.