The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has expressed concern over subtle move to deregulate tax practice in the country through legislation.
The president of CITN, Adesina Adedayo, expressed this view in an interactive session with the executives of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) during a courtesy visit to the new CITN leadership at the Tax Professionals House in Ikeja, Lagos.
He warned that the plan, which he said was spear-headed by another professional body, would erode the standard of tax practice in Nigeria if allowed to sail through the legislature.
Adedayo, who is the 15th President of CITN, alleged that despite the intervention by well-meaning personalities, relevant establishments and groups, the particular professional body had continued to push for an incursion into tax practice by lobbying the legislature.
According to the CITN boss, earlier intervention by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) led to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) among the three major concerned professional bodies, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) and CITN, in June 2021.
He said the MOU restated that the regulation of tax in Nigeria should continue to be domiciled with CITN, while expressing worry that the same professional group has not relented in pushing for the deregulation of tax practice despite being a party to the MOU.
“There is this clamour of everyone wanting to practise tax because tax has become a beautiful pride. When the clamour continued, we approached the FIRS to intervene and the three bodies involved.
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