Fowokan Takes Over Mantle of leadership At SWIT

Mrs. Titilayo Fowokan takes over the Mantle of leadership at the Society of Women in Taxation ( SWIT ) as the third Chairperson of Lagos state chapter. An investiture was held in her honour in Lagos to mark the commencement of her led executive committee members.

Mr. Albert Folorunsho the managing consultant in Pedabo with over 20 years of professional experience in Taxation insolvency practice and management consultancy was the guest speaker of Fowokan's investiture and he spoke on:
Global tax drive: compliance for foreign  direct investment in Nigeria . in his keynote address, Folorunsho says global tax drive has become a necessity because multinational enterprise ( MNE ) are taking  advanyage of loopholes in local laws as well as exploiting gaps in Taxation treaties where they exist for their benefits. He said e- commerce and globalisation have it possible for entities to arrange their businesses in a way that they can obtain tax benefits in some jurisdiction. S

Further he said existence of tax havens is depriving host nations of entity in  MNE group that created value and rivalry among nations and eagerness to attract foreign direct investment have led to some jurisdictions reducing their rates. Folorunsho stated that each country has its own tax system defined by its jurisdiction and national tax laws and the organization of economic cooperation and development ( OECD ) and the United Nations (  UN ) tax model convention provide guides on how sovereign state should interact with each other. H

He specifically stated that they are not tax laws just guide and that the mandate given to G20/ OECD to curb profit sharing gave rise to the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting ( BEPS) projects. He said the projects has 15 action points. Which he categorised as the tax challenges of a digital economy, the hybrid mistmach, controlled foreign corporation ( CFC ) rules, limitation of Interest, deductions, prevention of harmful tax practices, prevention of harmful tax practices, prevention of treaty abuse, prevention of the avoidance of permanent establishment status, intangible assets, capital and risks and other transfer pricing issues, data analysis and collection regarding the scale and economic impact of the BEPS project, mandatory disclosure of aggressive tax planning schemes, transfer pricing of document and country by country reporting, dispute avoidance and dispute resolution and development of a multilateral instrument for the implementation of BEPS action points.

Speaking further Folorunsho said that dividend tax, multiplicity of taxation by various organs of government, lack of advance tax rulings on certain issues to provide to investors, wrong interpretation and application of tax laws, ambiguity in tax laws are some of the issues negatively affecting foreign direct investment ( FDI ) in Nigeria.

He however recommend the use of tax friendly jurisdiction that are financial service centres which cater for the needs of investors. He concluded by saying Nigeria cannot achieve her full potential by increasing tax revenue alone. He however advised that government in his effort to increase revenue generation through taxation should always be mindful of its impact on the economic growth driver one of which is the foreign direct investment

Fowokan said that the thrust of the investitures on international taxation. She stated that across the globe, a lot of businesses are done via the tax net which makes it impossible for tax evaders to evade their tax payment. She said that with the global tax drive,  more companies comply by paying their taxes. since their accounts are no longer private  "their account are now visible and can be seen and viewed by everyone". Throwing more light on the topic at hand, she emphaise that with all these method in place, the   multi national will be very mindful of their taxation conduct because they will be aware of the fact that they are allowed to come into our country to do business does not mean they can do anything and go away with it. Fowokan said that once the tax affairs are open,  it is easy to access a tax payers  account to know where they actually belong "as  the FDI are coming to Nigeria, they are not just coming  to Nigeria to get our resources, we are also getting our own fair share of the tax that belongs to the country" this she said is the whole essence  of what  her investiture intend to achieve, "as we are attracting foreign investors we want them to contribute to our economy by paying their own fair share of their tax". She says when all these are in place it will encourage foreign investment Into into the country. Speakng on the impart of the revenue generated, Fowokan says, there will be employment and empowerment "" We will have more productive capacity coming into place, since more indigenes will be employed. As our companies increases and do more bussiness, taxes are being paid, without income there are no tax. We will also ensure that they don't take away out money".  Speaking on the role of government in all of this, she says, they are suppose to give us good policies, good environment and infrastructure , when the policies are straight and clear, it is easy to monitor, know the lips and bounds without running around for it,  they should help with all these and ensures that tax environment is conducive to do business.

Speaking on her plans as the new Chairperson for SWIT, Fowokan said that her target is to ensure that more women are participating more than ever before, in tax matters from the state level to national. She promise to take everyone along and she will ensure that more women get involved in the  policy making for the country. The schools will not be left out. She concluded.