Tuesday, 19th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

CITN, ICSAN, others kick against bill to empower ICAN regulate taxation practice 

By Gloria Nwafor 
23 February 2022   |   2:05 am
The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), Association of Forensic Accounting Researchers ...

27581743 – folder tab with the word tax, beige background taxes concept for illustration of taxation

The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), Association of Forensic Accounting Researchers (AFAR) and Taxpayers’ Rights Initiative, among other professional bodies, have kicked against a proposed amendment bill seeking to empower the Institute of Chartered

Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to regulate members on practice of accounting, taxation and other professions.
They described the move as an encroachment into the statutory obligations of other professional bodies. 
 
The professional bodies made their position known during the Public Hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance last week on the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria Act, 1965 (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

 
In a statement issued by CITN, cited the CITN Act No. 76 of 1992, which in its section 1 empowers the CITN to regulate and control the practice of taxation in all its ramifications.
 
Legal Adviser, CITN, Chukwuemeka Eze, during the course of his presentation, said that the proposed bill would be akin to having a dual regulator (a primary regulator – CITN and a secondary regulator – ICAN) to regulate  taxation practice.
 
He said the move will amount to an aberration, which will cascade to into legislative confusion.

According to him, the Bill has brazenly included tax practice in section 21 (which introduces a new Section 15 to the Principal Act) of the ICAN  Bill that “a Chartered Accountant shall be entitled to practice or hold himself out to practice as an Auditor, a Reporting Accountant, Financial Accounting and Corporate Reporting Services Practitioner, Financial Management Practitioner, Corporate Services Practitioner, Governance Risk and Compliance Services Practitioner, Tax Practitioner.” 

Similarly, in his own presentatation, Prof. Muhammad Akaro Mainoma, Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Association of Forensic Researchers opined that the Bill would inflict  injury to other professions.

He said that on this basis, sections  21 and 28 should  be expunged from the bill in order to engender inter-institutional harmony.
 
The ICAN bill, sponsored by Hon. Abubakar Yunusa Ahmad, is to address emerging trends in the Nigerian economic environment and for related matters and aimed at empowering the institute to regulate members to practice accounting and taxation, among other professions. 

0 Comments