Withholding Tax Regulations 2024 Gazetted, Reveals Taskforce Chairman Taiwo Oyedele

The chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, announced that the Withholding Tax Regulations 2024 has been officially gazetted. He made this disclosure during Channels Television’s Independence Day special event titled “Nigeria’s Challenging Economy: Strategies for Recovery.”

Oyedele explained that the gazetted regulation would be published on Wednesday, following a delay due to the public holiday.

“We have seen some of the processes within government are very slow, the bureaucracy can be better. So, one of the positives is that by going through this process of trying to do a holistic fiscal reform, we have also identified those areas where we can make things easier such that next time when there is an approval by the government almost immediately you can feel the impact,” he stated.

He added, “I do have some good news, the good news is that the withholding tax regulation has now been gazetted. So, the only reason it hasn’t been published today is because it is public holiday, so first thing tomorrow you will see a copy of the gazette and that provides a lot of relief not just for manufacturers but also every other business in terms of taking away some of the burdens of funding their working capital.”

The Deduction of Tax at Source (Withholding) Regulations 2024 was initially introduced by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, on July 1, 2024, as part of President Bola Tinubu’s economic reform agenda. Withholding tax serves as an advance payment mechanism for income tax, deducted directly from payments for specific transactions.

Oyedele also emphasized that improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria is a key focus of his committee, highlighting it as one of the three pillars of their work.

“Essentially, when you are talking about ease of doing business, it is one of the three pillars of the work of my committee, along with so many Nigerians who are members of that committee, putting in everything that they can without asking for anything in return because they love their country, and that gives us hope,” he said.

Additionally, Oyedele revealed that the Economic Stabilization Bill, which his committee has been working on, has been approved by the Federal Executive Council and will soon be presented to the National Assembly for passage into law.