Presidency explains how the tax reform bill will make housing affordable

The Presidency said on Thursday the Tax Reforms Bill would make housing more affordable and available to Nigerians when passed into law.

The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this at a Building and Construction Industry Forum in Abuja.

He said the bill would reduce the tax burden on the construction and real estate sectors when it sails through.

Oyedele said: “When the bill becomes law, Value Added Tax (VAT) on real estate transactions will be exempted, thereby lowering the cost of building materials and houses.

“The bill is designed in a way to favour low income earners contrary to what is being claimed, it will also ease their burden.

“There will be no VAT on lands, sale of real estate, and rent is exempted from VAT. Some of these have been areas of controversy in the past.

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“There is an exemption on stamp duties for rents below N10 million a month, and capital gains tax is also exempted on the sale of dwelling houses.”

He pointed out that, in the bill, building materials production including non- metallic products are eligible for priority sector incentives to boost production.

He said reforms would be carried out on land transactions, including titling and harmonisation of property taxes.

“The Tax Reforms Bill will improve the affordability of housing. It will provide relief for people who are paying rent because what this bill is going to do is to remove a lot of the tax burden.

“The essence is to make life better for everybody and improve the economic activities in the building and construction sectors, and by extension, the whole of the economy,” the presidential committee chairman added.

Oyedele encouraged Nigerians to seek more understanding of the tax reforms and stop relying on social media and headlines that were misinforming them.

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