A Critical Examination of the Taxation of Employment Income in Nigeria in Light of the Personal Income Tax Act

Abstract

Revenues from taxes generated from the personal income of taxable persons in an economy
constitute a sizeable portion of a nation’s tax earnings and Nigeria, for a long time now, has not
been an exception. It is due to the seriousness and the meticulousness that the challenge of
appropriately gathering this sort of tax earnings portends, that caused the emergence of several
Acts that provide extensively for the administration of taxation of employment income in Nigeria.
For the better part, this is largely underscored under the Personal Income Tax Act 2011 as
amended, and is extensively drawn upon in this article. This work critically examines the taxation
of employment income in Nigeria while considering a range of legal provisions and real-time
practices that are obtained in the Nigerian taxing system. This research work adopts the qualitative
methodology of research drawing its sources from both primary and secondary resources. It is
found that the TaxPro Max software developed by the FIRS, the quasi-judicial nature of the Boards
of Internal Revenue, the unpredictable nature of residency issues amongst others are issues at the
front burner for the government as the primary stakeholder in Nigeria’s employment income
matters.