Deloitte Mobile Tax Calculator Can Inject $3Bn in Economy

Findings by Akintola Williams Deloitte of the Nigerian tax system has showed that, there is a significant amount of reluctance by individuals and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to pay taxes due mainly to lack of understanding of how the tax liability is derived.

This has also prompted the development of Nigeria Income Tax Calculator (NITC), a mobile (online & offline), tax application targeted at closing the information gap.

It also aims to place basic key information into the hands of the taxpayer.

Tawanda Gumbo, Transitional Leader, Akintola Williams Deloitte, said that apart from taxpayers as the single most significant group of stakeholders in the Nigerian tax system, the National Tax Policy (NTP) encourages the development of structures, platforms, tools and/or applications that can enhance and simplify compliance for taxpayers.

He told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that, “The application will significantly empower the average individual and foster a greater level of understanding of how this key area of their expenditure is arrived at.

“Empowerment also arms the taxpayer with the ability to plan and challenge others who administer the Tax Act and so should create a greater level of acceptance of the citizens’ obligation to taxes which is currently not the case”.

In terms of future (policy changes), he said, “We have a dedicated IT Team who are readily available to update the application as needed. The users will be prompted by Google play store to update the NITC application similar to the way they update their other applications, whenever there is an update available. In other words the configuration is set at the international standard of applications and is robust in its construction to keep up with new changes to the Act locally.

Gumbo added that based on findings, users can make savings by currently calculating their income taxes.

“Certainly, it is key to consider that the majority of phone users have mobile data available for their use, so downloading the NITC application will not result in any additional cost. What is important to note is that the application is free and small in size. It will consume very little data at the point of download and requires no data for regular use and will take up very little memory space. The biggest benefit is that if you consider that Tax is a key area in which experts are normally used and yet, the application packages expert advice online for free to culminate in the accurate calculation of a key liability, then that is a great benefit in time and cost for all taxpayers”

The NITC application, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations show, pertains to the personal income tax Act 2011 (PITA) only.

In other words, it does not relate to other taxes such as companies income tax, value added tax and capital gains tax, to mention a few.

Confirming this, Gumbo said, “As you are aware, the application of PITA is the same nationwide and not State specific. Hence, a user in Port Harcourt will find it as useful as a user in Lagos or Sokoto States. Our platform was therefore targeted at the national level and does not cover aspects of Tax that have many state based variables in the calculation, so yes we did consider these aspects”.

 He added that at Deloitte, innovation is a key principle, “we continually find new ways of doing things and strive to add value not only to our clients but to our business environment.

“We continually seek to make an impact that matters and Deloitte Nigeria has over the years been at the forefront of innovations of this nature. This is just a tip of the iceberg and we suggest you stay up to date as we have a few more surprises of the same genre lined up”.