by Olusegun Akinleye @mypenspeaks
The Director, Medium Tax Department of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Ademola Olayemi, while speaking at the 14th Annual Conference of Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) has made it known that NGOs in the country are not exempted from paying tax.
He said “It is an erroneous assumption to believe that NGOs are exempted from paying tax. No, not at all. NGOs are not exempted from paying tax. Once you are registered as an NGO, do not venture into other areas. Once you do, you will required to pay your tax”
“If you are an NGO and you venture into business, it is required by law for you to pay your tax as profit made from that business has to be taxed. If you give out work to consultants, you should not withhold your tax”.
Ademola tasked the NGOs to make sure they are also registered with the FIRS too once they are done registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC and the Ministry of National Planning as it will enable them (NGOs) file their annual returns.