The Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF) has on Sunday disclosed that state governments would receive $2.5 million performance-based grants as an incentive for implementing tax relief programmes for businesses and individual taxpayers in a bid to ease the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was made known in a statement issued by Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, Head of Media and Public Affairs of the NGF Secretariat in Abuja following a virtual meeting between the forum and the World Bank, adding that the grant will be given to states that met required conditions for the tax relief.
The meeting which was held under the States' Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme was organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP).
"These efforts are being incentivised by a new Disbursement Linked Indicator (DLI) under the FMFBNP World Bank $750 million SFTAS Programme for Results.
"Eligible States will be rewarded with $2.5m each in performance-based grants if they announce by July 31 and implement by Sept. 30 a tax compliance relief programme for individual taxpayers and businesses to mitigate the COVID-19 impact," the statement read.
"However, there are criteria to be met if a state is to receive the $2.5m.
"These are that, State announcements should be signed by the commissioner of finance or the executive chairman of the State Internal Revenue Service and published on State websites and in national dailies to ensure widespread awareness among taxpayers.
"Furthermore, the State government should issue to their tax officials and collecting agents, guidelines for the implementation of the reliefs to ensure consistent execution by all and sundry," it added.
The state government were introduced to the tax relief programme as an effort to reduce the hardships and other impacts of the pandemic on individuals, businesses and the states' economies.
"The extent to which government revenues will be impacted by these reliefs will depend on the type of relief that they grant and their ability to raise their tax efforts simultaneously, including offering incentives for greater tax compliance", the statement said explaining the importance of the tax relief programme.
