New Telegraph

NIPC grants tax holiday to 8 more firms

  • 160 applications pending

 

The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has approved tax holiday for eight more firms under its Pioneer Status Incentive (PSI) programme, New Telegraph has learnt.

 

The approval granted in the second quarter of this year is to exempt the companies from paying taxes over the next three years. Aside from the eight firms, seven other companies were also granted Approval in Principle, which is subject to the payment of application fees and only takes effect after the payment of such fees.

 

A pioneer status incentive grants companies making investments in qualifying industries and products a tax holiday of three years from the payment of company income tax.

 

The three-year tax holiday has the possibility of an extension for one or two additional years to enable the industry concerned make a reasonable level of profit within its formative years.

 

The new beneficiaries of  PSI include Premium Aquaculture Limited, which is into fish farming; Tosett Agro Industries Limited, which processes edible oil; Aurebles Ventures Limited, a gas manufacturing company and Wintess Garden (Hotels and Suites) Limited, an hotel development company.

 

Others are De Santiago Milan Hotel & Suite Limited, which is also into hotel development; Metsa Wood Services Limited, a furniture company; Tiloc Nigeria Limited, hotel development and Tranos Constructing Limited, which is into electrical equipment manufacturing.

 

According to NIPC’s Q2’21 PSI report, the eight firms have so far invested a total of N12.6 billion into the country’s economy. Indicating a long time of  Businessapplication processing, the NIPC report showed that one of the eight firms had applied for the tax holiday since 2017, two applied in 2018, while the remaining five applied in 2019. With the new approvals,

NIPC said the total number of beneficiaries of the tax incentive as of June 30, 2021, stood at 31, while a total of 160 applications are pending.

 

According to the Commission, the 31 companies have invested over N1 trillion in the economy and have over 6,000 employed staff.

 

Some of the companies with massive investments include Kalambaina Cement Company Limited, which is said to have invested N107.5 billion and employed 153 people; Honeywell Flour Mills Nigeria Plc with N49.4 billion investment and 390 employed staff; and Pan African Towers Limited,  a telecom infrastructure company with N25.6 billion investment and 230 employees.

 

The Commission disclosed that within the second quarter, 28 new firms applied for the PSI status in their respective industries. Some of the new applicants include IGA Ship Building & Repair Yard Limited; Okpella Cement Plc; Matrix Fertilizer Limited; Metal Manufacturing Nigeria Limited; LGC Media Limited and Alagbaka Power Limited, among others.

 

Aside from the new applicants, the commission said five companies had also filed for an extension of their tax holiday within the period under review. However, none of the extension applications was approved.

 

Meanwhile, the Federal Government had, in March this year, inaugurated a joint committee of staff of NIPC and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Pioneer Status Incentive (PSI).

 

The committee was set up to review  manufacthe current guidelines for administration of PSI, validate the cost of the incentive to Nigeria and recommend changes to the qualification and administration.

 

Commenting on the move, NIPC’s Executive Secretary/ CEO, Ms. Yewande Sadiku, stated that the Commission understands the responsibility it shoulders in relation to administering PSI and exercises great diligence in processing applications.

 

On his part, the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami, encouraged members of the committee to invest their energy into the exercise as it is a means to assist the government to achieve an enabling business environment, bearing in mind the responsibility of government to fund budgetary needs.

 

In 2015, the Federal Government had placed an administrative suspension on the processing and issuance of PSI. Government, however, lifted the suspension in August 2017 and 27 new industries and products were included in the scheme.

 

Since the lifting of the suspension, there has been increased participation of both indigenous and foreign investors in the scheme.

 

Read Previous

18-year-old boy stabs prostitute to death in Ogun

Read Next

LCCI, MAN lament poor access to CBN’s intervention funds

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *