Abuja, Nov. 8, 2023: The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), has inaugurated a Capital Gain Tax Implementation Committee, as part of efforts to boost Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in FCT, Abuja.
Mr Chinedum Kelechi, the Mandate Secretary, Economic Planning, Revenue Generation and Public Private Partnership, FCTA, inaugurated the committee in Abuja on Tuesday.
The committee would be chaired by the Executive Chairman, FCT-IRS, while the Director, Tax Operations, FCT-IRS would serve as secretary.
Members of the committee included the Solicitor General; Director, Land Department; Director, Development Control; Director, Abuja Geographic Information System; and the Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association.
Kelechi explained that setting up the committee became necessary following the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike’s approval for the implementation of the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) Act, Cap. CI LFN 2004.
“The Act imposes a CGT tax rate of 10 per cent on the total amount of chargeable gains accruable to any person upon disposal of his or her chargeable asset.
“Or assets in a year of assessment after deduction of the allowable expenses from the gains made on the asset’s disposal.
“This is to be remitted to the FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) as required by the extant law,” he said.
He added that Wike had equally approved inter-agency collaboration and synergy between the FCT-IRS and other relevant agencies to ensure a smooth implementation of this CGT Act.
This, according to him, is critical to harnessing the potential of CGT in the FCT.
The mandate secretary said that the committee was expected to conduct comprehensive awareness and education campaigns to improve citizens’ understanding.
He also said that the committee would conduct regular stakeholders’ engagement through business associations, chambers of commerce, Nigeria Bar Association, and other relevant organisations.
He equally said that the committee would monitor transactions across stakeholders, agencies and enforce the implementation of CGT in accordance with extant laws.
Kelechi urged members of the committee to collaborate with the judiciary to handle cases of severe non-compliance or fraud as well as establishing a transparent dispute resolution mechanism among others.
Earlier, the acting Executive Chairman, FCT-IRS, Mr Haruna Abdullahi, said that the CGT was part of taxes that FCT-IRS was empowered by law to collect.
Abdullahi, however, lamented that currently, the capital gain tax due to FCT that was being collected was less than five per cent.
He commended Wike for bringing relevant stakeholders together to work with FCT-IRS to enhance the revenue in the territory.