Animal feed to become VAT-exempt as Buhari seeks amendment of finance act

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the national assembly to amend the finance act by including animal feed to the list of basic items that are exempted from value-added tax.

The president’s request was contained in a letter read during Tuesday’s house of representatives plenary session by Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker.

Among the amendments is that the effective date of the law should be indicated as February 1, 2020, as announced by Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget and national planning.

“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% to 7.5% 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 crops, 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.”

Buhari had assented to the finance bill in January saying the bill was aimed at reforming Nigeria’s tax laws “to align with global best practices”.

He had also said it would help in the support for businesses, incentivize investments in infrastructure and capital markets and raise government revenues.

It makes provisions for companies with an annual turnover of less than N25 million to be exempted from paying company income tax.

You can find more details about the bill here.