FCT property owners to begin paying taxes as Wike signs draft regulation

The FCT-Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) has started the implementation of the Capital Gains Tax in the FCT, in accordance with the Capital Gains Tax Act of 2004.

This tax mandates a ten percent levy on the total chargeable gains accrued to any individual upon the disposal of chargeable assets in a given year of assessment.

Haruna Abdullahi, the Executive Chairman of FCT-IRS, disclosed this development during a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday.

He noted that the minister's approval of key initiatives is aimed at boosting revenue for the FCT.

"In the last three weeks, the minister has approved some initiatives that are huge and will certainly change the dynamics in terms of the bottom line. Just the other day, we submitted a draft proposal to the minister for the FCT property tax regulation," Abdullahi stated.

He further explained that the FCT-IRS Act empowers the minister to formulate a property tax regulation for the FCT. The draft proposal was submitted, reviewed, and subsequently approved by Minister Wike.

"We have an inter-agency collaboration whereby we review it because the draft was just done by the FCT-IRS, but that’s not enough; you need other stakeholders. So he approved the initiative to go ahead and review the draft and then come back. Subsequently, at the end of the day, he will sign the regulation, and it is gazetted and implemented. So that alone should tell you that there is a huge positive impact on the bottom line of the IGR in the city," Abdullahi added.