The president, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Adesina Adebayo, has expressed his concern about the subtle move to deregulate tax practice in the country through legislation.
He also 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.
Adebayo expressed this view in an interactive session with the executives of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria during a courtesy visit to the new CITN leadership at the Tax Professionals House in Ikeja, Lagos.
Adebayo, who is the 15th President of CITN, said 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 resulted in the signing of a memorandum of understanding among the three major concerned professional bodies, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria and CITN, in June 2021.
He said the MOU restated that the regulation of tax in Nigeria should continue to be domiciled with CITN.
He expressed 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 practice tax because tax has become a beautiful pride. When the clamour continued, we approached the FIRS to intervene and the three bodies involved – ICAN, ANAN and CITN – participated.
“We signed an MOU in June last year to the effect that these major professional bodies which came together had agreed that the issue of regulation of tax should be domiciled with CITN.
“In CITN all we do, think, talk about is tax. Other professions now want to adventure into tax. The Court has adjudicated that the professional bodies should stick to their territories, yet the clamour continues.”
Adedayo maintained that deregulation of tax practice will whittle down the standard and alter the purpose of CITN.
He explained that the role of tax practitioners is distinct from that of other bodies notwithstanding that CITN is populated by persons of different backgrounds.
“A profession requires certain skills and training, so you must be trained as a tax practitioner to practise tax”, he said.
He noted that there are tax administrators in all states of the federation and FCT and the FIRS taking charge of the centre, yet the principle of taxation remains the same as the CITN insists on professionalism.
“At the regulatory side, what we are saying is simple: The professionals that will work along with these other people must develop certain ethics, knowledge and other conditions; that is what we stand for as an Institute.
“If you see any professional body that says, ‘I am training auditors’, ‘I am training accountants’, ‘I am training forensic experts’, ‘I am training business recovery experts, and I am also training tax experts’, then you have to exercise caution.
The CITN President said his tenure would strengthen the relationship between the tax regulatory body and FICAN and that CITN would provide the needed support for FICAN capacity building and other areas.
