President Muhammadu Buhari signs Executive Order to tax Nigerians’s foreign assets

The Buhari administration is taking necessary measures in respect to money laundering and tax evasion by releasing a new Executive Order number eight, tagged Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularization Scheme (VOARS).

The new Executive Order (008) takes effect from October 8, 2018 the day it was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

By the new order, Nigerian taxpayers who hold offshore assets and income are expected to, within a period of 12 months, declare voluntarily those assets and pay taxes on them, Mr. Garba Shehu (presidential spokesman) said.

According to the order, “any taxpayer who truthfully and voluntarily complies with the conditions of the scheme, pays a one-time levy of 35 percent on the total offshore assets or pays all outstanding taxes, penalties and interest after forensic audit of their offshore assets and income shall obtain immunity from prosecution for tax offenses and offences related to offshore assets, among others.

“Equally, failure of any defaulting taxpayer to take advantage of this scheme shall, at the expiration of the scheme result in investigation and enforcement procedures concerning offshore assets anywhere in the world pursuant to information now readily available through automatic exchange of information between Nigeria and foreign countries.”

“In signing the order, President Buhari noted that under the Nigerian law, every citizen has the duty to declare his or her income and assets and pay taxes on them but regretted that this, had not been the case.