May 15, 2019

Julius Berger Nigeria Plc financial report for 2018 has shown an impressive performance in its revenue generation, taxes and returns to shareholders. Details of the company’s outing announced by the financial director, Mr. Martin Brack, showed that the Group’s revenue in 2018 increased by 37 per cent and profit – before- tax rose by 173 per cent, while the total comprehensive income increased by 47 per cent. Brack told the business community at the company’s Investors’ Forum in Lagos that earnings per share increased by 47 per cent, while the shareholders’ equity rose to N35 billion during the year. Also, the company’s managing director, Dr. Lars Richter, told the forum that the progress Julius Berger had made at the Second Niger Bridge reflected its continued commitment to the timely completion of the project.   Source: Leadership

Seventy-five Kenyan tax agency staff were arrested on Friday on suspicion of abetting tax evasion and bribery, the latest effort by authorities in the East African country to fight corruption. The staff have not been charged and are being questioned, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) said in a statement. “Investigations into the rackets have been in progress for the last four months with covert assistance provided by national law enforcement agencies to help in trailing money and communication,” it said. The staff, who work in the domestic tax department and customs and border control, are accused of helping to fraudulently clear cargo and alter tax returns to help people dodge tax payments, the KRA said. It did not say how much revenue had been lost. The detentions come as the government is struggling to raise tax revenues to fund its budget.   Source: Independent

The FIRS is comfortably the largest revenue collection agency, responsible for petroleum profit tax (PPT) and the most important non-oil taxes. The revenue generation of the FGN can be judged on its performance.  Its collection increased by 22% in 2017 and 32% in 2018 but remains short of budget and, more significantly, the level to fund the overdue transformation of the Nigerian economy. PPT collection achieved 93% of budget in 2018, and non-oil taxes just 70%, which highlights the areas where the FIRS should concentrate its efforts. Our chart shows that the FIRS has not achieved its target since 2014 because the setting of budgets has become more aggressive. If we take the FGN’s share of company income tax (CIT), we see from data provided by the Budget Office of the Federation that collection in 2017 reached N543bn (vs a budget of N808bn). In the first nine months of 2018 it hit N500bn (vs a full-year target of N795bn).  Budgets are to remain aggressive. We note that the FIRS has an N8.0trn target for total revenue generation in 2019 (vs N5.3trn actual in 2018).  The FIRS has a number of initiatives in place to boost collection, centred upon the use of electronic systems, the pooling of information with government departments and working with external consultants. They are all commendable and apparently based upon on improving compliance and coverage.  The FGN seems reluctant to increase tax rates as well as tighten compliance. There were reports in the local media that senior officials had discussed raising PPT, CIT and VAT in meetings with a Senate commission (Good Morning Nigeria, 21 March 2019).  However, they are still just reports, and we await signs that the FGN will adopt the fastest route (some higher rates and improved compliance).   Source: Proshare