Nigerians
who own undisclosed properties in the United Kingdom (UK) are now in
panic mode as the Federal Government has latched in on the new UK
Regulation called the Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) to access the
properties, their locations and the tax compliance levels.
Consequently, many of them who have
defaulted in their tax obligations and fear losing their properties to
the UK government, have inundated the Federal Ministry of Finance’s
Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) hotlines with
calls, causing the lines to crash last Friday.
Top government sources told Daily Sun on
Sunday that many rich Nigerians, including a governor, with properties
and businesses stashed overseas have appealed to the Federal Government
to extend the March 31 deadline of VAIDS to give them more time to
regularise their taxes.
The source said: “The unprecedented level
of calls was not unconnected with the new UK regulation regarding to
Unexplained Wealth Order (UWOs). The confidential hotlines were provided
to enable the booking of appointments. But it had received massive
calls and frantic requests from taxpayers in the last 72 hours, asking
for extension of time to complete their VAIDS declaration forms.
“Because of UK’s new law, the Federal
Government has the data of Nigerians with properties and their tax
status. The data is already in the possession of the VAIDS office in the
Federal Ministry of Finance which revealed that many UK property owners
have underpaid their taxes to Nigeria before transferring funds
overseas to buy property.
“Concerted efforts are ongoing to restore
the hotlines following the crash on Friday. Most of the calls received
are from high net worth individuals, including company executives,
bankers and even a governor. All seem to be in panic mode over the
prospect of losing their investments,” said a source at the VAIDS
office.
He revealed that some of the apprehensive
Nigerian property investors in UK stormed the Federal Ministry of
Finance last Friday without appointments, requesting to see the Minister
and also the Head of the VAIDS office.
“Most of the enquiries were about seeking
assurance from the Nigerian government that the VAIDs programme can
protect them from potential asset, forfeiture to the UK government.
Others requested to know if their names had appeared on the lists from
overseas,” the source added.
Recall that the UK government had last
week introduced a new law that requires foreign owners of properties in
the country to explain the sources of their funds or risk forfeiting
them to the government under UWOs.
According to the new law, UWOs can be
obtained for any property or combination of properties valued at just
£50,000 (about N25 million) or more, for which the owner is unable to
explain legal source of funds.
The UWO law, coupled with the revelation
that many foreign governments are automatically sharing bank and
property information with Nigeria, has resulted in an upsurge in
enquiries about the VAIDS programme.
VAIDS allows Nigerian taxpayers to
restate their income and assets without limit and this could potentially
allow those who own property that cannot be explained by their
previously declared income to regularise by declaring and paying the
correct taxes.
No comments: