Court Summons Minister, AGF Over Proposed Expatriates Taxation

The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, and the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, have been given a directive from Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja to explain why the proposed expatriate taxation regime should not be put in place.

Justice Ekwo ordered the minister and the AGF to be served with the motion within three days of the ruling on the motion ex-parte made by Patrick Peter, the plaintiff’s attorney.

The plaintiff had in the motion ex-parte, sued the Interior Minister and AGF as 1st and 2nd defendants.

In attente of the hearing and decision of the motion on notice, the group requested an order of interim injunction preventing the defendants, jointly and severally with any agency, agencies, and/or departments) under their control from implementing the new Expatriate Employment Levy (EEL) in Nigeria.

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The Federal Government of Nigeria unveiled a set of proposed new taxation policies known as the Expatriate Employment Levy (EEL), according to an affidavit from the group’s programme implementation coordinator.

The Federal Government intends to compel all businesses and organizations that provide services to foreign expatriates to pay tax E. E. L. as follows, according to KPMG and other online information analysts and dissemination agencies:

” For every expatriate on the level of a director — Fifteen Thousand United States Dollars ($15, 000.00) equivalent to Twenty-Three Million Naira, by the current exchange rates (NW23, 000, 000.00) per annum.

“For every expatriate on a non-director level – Ten Thousand United States Dollars ($10, 000.00) equivalent to Sixteen Million Naira, by the current exchange rates (N16, 000, 000.00) per annum”, he said.

Ezeh remarked that the federal government planned to pass additional laws that would include penalties and sanctions for non-compliance with the proposed taxation system.

According to him, inaccurate or incomplete reporting will attract five years ‘ imprisonment and/or N1 million.

He claimed that filing an EEL within 30 days will result in fines of N3 million and that false information submission will result in N3 million.

The coordinator claimed that an organization that doesn’t renew EEL before its expiration date will be fined N3 million.

According to Ezeh, “The proposed taxation regime is totally anti-people policy because it has a profound impact on various aspects of the Nigerian economy and works like a choke-hold against the nation’s economic growth.”

He said taxation is a sensitive matter which, under the 1999 Constitution (as amended), calls for the collaboration of the executive and legislative arms of government.

He claimed that the executive branch of the government is not able to levy taxes on corporate entities and other citizens of the country under Section 59 of the Constitution.

He claimed that the proposed tax regime is much more welcoming to foreigners than the current one.

Ezeh claimed that the minister is about to start putting the EEL into full use.

He said, “If the defendants are not restrained by an order of this honorable court, they will immediately begin full implementation of the said program, putting a strain on the country’s economic viability.”

He claimed the plaintiff agreed to pay damages if the substantive lawsuit turned out to be unfavorable.

Justice Ekwo ordered the plaintiff to give the defendants a three-day notice of the ex-parte application after hearing Peter.

He continued, “Upon being served, the defendants are hereby ordered to show cause why the plaintiff’s prayers ought not to be granted on the following day of hearing.”

The minister and the AGF had until January 16 to file a cause-and-effect order from the judge.

Source: Channels TV