CAR IMPORT LEVY SLASHED FROM 35% TO 5%

The federal government is implementing plans to decrease the levy paid on imported cars from 35 percent to just five percent.

This is contained in the draft of the 2020 finance bill to be presented to the national assembly.

The implemented bill becomes in place once it is passed by the legislature and acknowledged by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Information of the bill shared by the president also highlights that the import duty of Tractors and motor vehicles for the transportation of goods has also been dramatically decreased from 35 percent to 10 percent.

To improve ease of doing business, the bill also proposes that software acquisition now qualifies as capital expenditure.

Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, had previously explained that the reduction in import duties and levies is targeted at reducing the cost of transportation.

“The reason for us is to reduce the cost of transportation which is a major driver of inflation especially food production,” she told state house correspondents on Wednesday 18th November at the federal executive council.

Last year, Hameed Ali, the comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service have purposely encouraged the federal government to reduce the levy on imported cars to 10%. A tactic to decrease the importation of smuggling or importing from neighbouring countries.

Source: The Cable, November 2020