FILE PHOTO: Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu waves to a crowd as he takes the traditional ride on top of a ceremonial vehicle, after his swearing-in ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja/File Photo

ABUJA, Aug 20 (Reuters) – Nigeria is on track to meet a tax revenue target set by the Federal Inland Revenue Service and is pushing for a legislative overhaul to modernise tax collection, including regulating cryptocurrencies, the chief of the service said on Tuesday.

Zacch Adedeji said in a statement that a 19.4 trillion naira ($12.5 billion) revenue target set for 2024 is within reach.

“We are in the third quarter of the year and with the figures we are seeing so far, I can say we are on the path of achieving our target,” Adedeji said following talks with a joint committee of Nigeria’s National Assembly on Finance.

In office since May last year, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has embarked on the country’s boldest reforms in decades, including the partial removal of costly petrol and electricity subsidies, and has proposed changes to the country’s tax system as part of a push to widen the tax base.

The West African country is also preparing an executive bill to overhaul revenue collection and introduce regulations for cryptocurrencies as it aims to simplify tax laws and harmonise collection, Adededi said.

The proposed legislation, if passed, could reshape Nigeria’s economic landscape, bringing its tax system in line with global standards and potentially boosting much-needed revenue from the rapidly growing cryptocurrency sector.

Adedeji said the proposal seeks to simplify tax laws, harmonise revenue collection and replace outdated tax laws with measures more closely fitting current economic conditions.

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“We will bring a bill for a law to overhaul the whole process of revenue administration in Nigeria,” Adedeji said. “Part of what we intend to achieve with this is to harmonise revenue collection, making tax laws very simple to understand and to be in tune with our current realities.

“We cannot run away from the cryptocurrency ecosystem. As it stands in Nigeria today, there is no law that regulates cryptocurrency operations. We need a law that regulates that area of our economy.”

($1 = 1,550.0000 naira)

(Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by David Holmes)