10 companies’ applications seeking pioneer status under the Industrial Development Income Tax Act in Q1 2021 have been rejected by the Federal Government.
The pioneer status is an incentive offered by the Federal Government which exempts companies from paying income tax for a certain period.
An analysis of the first quarter Pioneer Status Incentive report obtained by The PUNCH from the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission showed that while the requests of 10 firms were denied, three companies had their applications approved-in principle and six firms were granted PSI for a three-year period.
The report also revealed that 33 firms are currently benefitting from the tax incentive scheme while the requests of 132 companies were still pending.
The six companies that were granted a tax holiday between January and March are Pan African Towers Ltd, African Foundries Ltd, Aarti Rolling Mills Limited, Princess Medi-Clinics Nigeria Litd, Medlog Logistics Ltd and Tiamin Rice Ltd.
As of March 31 this year, these companies had invested N45.5m into the Nigerian economy.
Fountain Manufacturing Company Limited, Echostone Development Nigeria Limited, Al-Hamsad Rice Mill Limited, Benchmark Constructions Limited, Super Packaging Limited, Royal Foam Products Nigeria Limited, ENGIE Fenix Nigeria Limited, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Envoy Hotel Limited and Flutterwave Technology Solutions Limited are the 10 firms whose applications were rejected.
The businesses that the 10 companies are engaged in are soap manufacturing, real estate development, rice milling, manufacturing of woven sacks, production of mattresses, solar power generation, manufacturing of grain products, and online payment services.
Further analysis of the NIPC report revealed that these companies were denied tax exemptions for various reasons, ranging from ineligibility of business activities for which incentives were sought to late submission of applications.
