Problem and Prospect of Petroleum Profit Tax Administration in Nigeria Case Study of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS Nigeria and the Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract of Problem and Prospect of Petroleum Profit Tax Administration in Nigeria Case Study of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS Nigeria and the Oil and Gas Industry

Petroleum Profit Tax is a major source of revenue for the Federal Government of Nigeria to meet its statutory obligations of ensuring the economic development of Nigeria. It assists the government to achieve the country’s macroeconomic objective in the areas of fiscal and monetary policies. However, it has been observed that non-provision of corporate social responsibilities in the communities where there is extraction of crude oil result into constant destruction of production installations, and hindrance to production; tax avoidance and evasion  d poor tax administration, and weak fiscal policy  have been negating the increase in tax income generated.

Nigeria’s economy is totally dependent on oil. The revenue from oil accounts for over 85% of the entire revenue of Government and about 95% of foreign earnings. The oil boom has led to more revenue through tax and royalties. It concludes that when the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill, currently under review at the National Assembly is eventually passed into law, it is believed that it will bring about the much desired development in the sector.

The main objective of this paper is to assess the relationship between petroleum profit tax and economic development of Nigeria for the enhancement of the welfare of the citizens. And to also  paper is to examine the ownership, the legal framework as well as the basic components of the petroleum profits, which components are revenue, adjusted profits, assessable profit, chargeable profit, assessable tax and chargeable tax. This article focuses on the assessment of the petroleum profit tax under the Petroleum Profit Tax Act, Cap P 13, Laws of Federation of Nigeria, 2004 as well as judicial authorities regarding same.

Primary and secondary data were used to collect the research data, while chi-square and multiple regression statistical models were used to analyze the results of the field work. The findings reveal that there is a very strong relationship between petroleum profit tax and economic development of Nigeria, tax avoidance and evasion are major hindrance to income growth in this sector, poor tax administration is a problem to effectiveness and efficiency of this source of income, and lack of corporate social responsibilities is causing unrest in the crude oil production zone.